The Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra plays period instruments and
tries to think like the composer and be true to the music. It
produces a warm distinct sound that has a dance-like quality.
The stage in Shanghai is never short of performances by
world-class orchestras and artists. However, concerts dedicated to
Baroque music, especially played on period instruments, have hardly
ever been seen here.
That was before the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra presented an
extraordinary concert at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center on
Saturday night.
Hailed by Gramophone magazine as one of the world's top Baroque
orchestras, Toronto-based Tafelmusik presented a program that
bridged the West and the East with a full range of period
instruments. Some of them like the archlute and the Indian sarangi
had never been played in performance in Shanghai.
The word "Tafelmusik" comes from the German for "table music,"
originally the 16th- and 17th-century music that was performed as
background music for feasts and other events.
On Saturday night, 14 Tafelmusik musicians performed, along with
a sarangi player, a pipa player and two indigenous Inuit
singers.
In Vivaldi's famous 1723 violin concertos, the "Four Seasons,"
the special warmth produced by authentic sheep gut strings on all
the string instruments amazed the whole audience.
A lighter bow, which tapers to a fine point at the tip, makes it
flexible to play and, together with subtler bowing techniques,
gives the music a dance-like character, explains Tafelmusik's music
director Jeanne Lamon.
She demonstrated on her beloved violin, made in Venice in the
early 18th century - it might even have been played under Vivaldi's
own direction.
Long notes on solo instruments were often ornamented with
subtlety and elegance, rather than played with vibratos, as they
are usually played today. The vibrato technique, creating a
tremulous, pulsing effect, was virtually non-existent in Vivaldi's
time.
The archlute, which was positioned prominently, improvised
beautiful chords and arpeggios together with the harpsichord
provided by the Shanghai Oriental Art Center to harmonize the
spaces between the bass line and the higher voices. These extra
notes, which never appear on a printed score, are true joys to both
performers and listeners of Baroque music.
When the Tafelmusik started its trek in period performing, it
was one of the very few such ensembles in the world. However, since
the 1990s younger period performing groups have flourished. Some of
them have pushed the characteristics of period instruments to
extremes to achieve striking effects. "That's a bit of an
attention-getting tactic," Lamon says.
Indeed, through the years the Tafelmusik has retained its lead
in the Baroque scene with its consistent elegance and refinement in
playing.
Tafelmusik's success is closely related to its persistence in
exploring new repertoires and new audiences. "I've always felt that
if we keep just playing the music in the truest possible way, I'm
not interested in it. If the music isn't good enough, first of all,
to interest the musician, and to keep the interests of the
audience, then I'm not interested in playing it and I don't think
the audience should pay money to hear it," Lamon says.
This perspective is illustrated by the inclusion of contemporary
Chinese and Indian instruments and Inuit singers in Saturday's
program "Four Seasons Mosaic: The Cycle of the Sun," which was
premiered in 2004.
"At the time of Vivaldi, there was also prosperity in music in
the rest of the world, in North America, in Asia. But because of
the lack of communication, people lived in their own world and
didn't know what was going on elsewhere," says Alison Mackay,
Tafelmusik's double bass player and the creator of the program. "So
we want to establish a musical space in which musicians from
different nations can play together and respect each other's
culture and tradition."
?An interesting example of this mutual respect was a duet
by the lutist Lucas Harris and the Beijing-born pipa player Wen
Zhao. Though popular in different hemispheres, the two instruments
actually originate from the same Arab's oud.
This fact has inspired Wen to transcribe the famous Chinese pipa
piece "Chun Jiang Hua Yue Ye" ("Moonlight of Spring River") for the
two instruments. Unfortunately, it was only performed during the
free rehearsal prior to the concert.
Indian sarangi player Aruna Narayan impressed the audience with
the legendary 40-string instrument and the fact that her father,
sarangi virtuoso Ram Narayan, used to be a frequent visitor to
China. He played for late Premier Zhou Enlai several times.
Aruna Narayan was among the soloists in the final number, the
concerto "Winter" arranged by film composer Mychael Danna to
include all the musicians on the stage. An imaginative
recomposition if not a faithful transcription, and a splendid end
to the whole program.
"If we are doing our job well, then we are presenting the music
in a way that is true to the music and brings the music to life in
a most real way, I hope that Vivaldi would like to hear the concert
tonight," Lamon said before the concert.
"I always think about the composer. If he were here what would
he think? And if the answer is that he might be angry with me, then
I'll think 'okay, I'm not gonna do that'." Vivaldi would have
smiled.
(Shanghai Daily October 29, 2007)