"Golden Spring," a concert combining both Chinese traditional music
and Western symphony will be staged at the Great Hall of the People
in Beijing on Saturday to celebrate the New Year.
Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Central Orchestra of
Traditional Chinese Music will present half a concert each. There
will also be two conductors, one Czech and one Chinese.
Established in 1960 and based in Beijing, the Central Orchestra of
Traditional Chinese Music is devoted to developing traditional
Chinese music.
Composed of musicians who play traditional Chinese instruments, the
orchestra has more than 100 solo and ensemble works in its
repertoire.
Over the past four decades, the orchestra has toured more than a
dozen countries.
Its performances have thrilled audiences in world-known concert
halls and theatres such as the Carnegie Hall in New York and the
Vienna Golden Hall.
However, these days, it appears that some audiences are not very
enthusiastic about Chinese traditional music.
"This type of music is being strongly affected by classical Western
music and pop music, traditional Chinese music is losing fans
drastically at home," said Gu Xiayang, president of the
orchestra.
"Introducing traditional Chinese music to the world is only a part
of our work," he said. "Besides, we first want audiences at home to
listen to our music and to like it."
According to him, traditional Chinese music always reminds people
of old songs like "Full of Joy" (Xi Yang Yang), "Spring Night on a
Moonlit River" (Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye) and "Colourful Cloud Chasing
the Moon, (Caiyun Zhui Yue), they know little about the newly
composed ones."
"We have fallen into a vicious circle, the less people listen to
our music, the fewer concerts we give, and the fewer concerts we
give, the less new music people hear and the less they like and
listen to our music," Xia said.
So
he considers this joint concert a great opportunity for the
orchestra. He said: "It is a special dialogue between traditional
Chinese music and a Western symphony. It is a small step on the
road to promoting traditional Chinese music at home."
Zhang Wei, a white-collar in an IT company looks happy after buying
the tickets for him and his wife. "It is a rare chance to enjoy
traditional Chinese music to celebrate the New Year as so many
Western symphony orchestras or ballet companies have rushed into
the market in Beijing," he said.
Wang He, a junior college student said: "It is a good idea to
combine different orchestras in one concert because I can
appreciate two kinds of music together."
In
the first half, the Czech Radio Symphony Orchestra will perform
some works by Gershwin, Dvorak, Shostakovich and Smetana under the
baton of Vladimir Valek.
In
addition, they will also accompany Li Yuanyuan from the Central
Orchestra of Traditional Chinese Music, who will play "Erhu
Rhapsody No 1 and 2" composed by Wang Jianmin, under the baton of
Wang Jin.
The second half will consist of many newly composed Chinese pieces
including "Northwest Suite" composed by Tan Dun, a world-famous
Chinese musician, who won an Oscar Award for his original music of
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" last year.
It
will also star Feng Xiaoquan and Zeng Gege, the popular couple who
play traditional Chinese music. Feng plays the suona, a woodwind
instrument and Zeng, his wife, plays dizi, the Chinese bamboo
flute.
With a rapid rise to fame in both traditional and pop music
circles, their music is a mixture of both styles. "I want my music
to have more listeners, so I will consider their tastes and the
trends more," Feng said.
(China
Daily December 26, 2001)