Orchestral Concert. Ausfeng. Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. Adelaide Town Hall. 17 Nov 2022
The East Meets West Orchestral Concert is an initiative of the China Arts and Entertainment Group and aims to promote mutual friendship and foster cultural ties between China and western countries. The concert was postponed several times due to the pandemic but tonight finally graced the Adelaide Town Hall stage to a capacity audience.
The generously sized program featured music largely written in the western tradition but infused with influences from the east. Half of the program was written by western composers (Puccini, Bizet, and Prokofiev), and the other half by Chinese composers and arrangers (Wang Liping, Wang Fan, Liang Zhao, He Zhanhao, Chen Gang, Zheng Qiufeng, Yin Cherngzong, Chu Wanghua, Liu Zhuang, and Sheng Lihong).
Under the baton of Guy Noble, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra played the diverse program with much gusto, and the audience was treated to two major works – The Yellow River Piano Concerto, and The Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto, as well as excerpts from Puccini’s Turandot and La Bohème, Bizet’s Carmen, Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite, and an orchestral piece featuring Guzheng – a Chinese instrument – and several Chinese language songs.
The concert began with Jasmine Flowers from Turandot. It features every section of the orchestra and had the audience buzzing from the start. Noble encouraged the orchestra to play at full voice and at a pace that was marginally too brisk. The Chinese composition Hope Betrayed from the 2010 Chinese TV series The Dream of Red Mansions featured the Guzheng, played by virtuoso Zhao Liang, and vocals by mezzo soprano Victoria Lambourn (who was amplified). Its distinctly oriental sound palette fused beautifully with the score for a standard western orchestra. Liang was dressed in a Mandarin gown and Lambourn in a rich ball gown, and the true spirit of fusion of cultural styles was unleashed. (Members of the audience were impressed that Lambourn sang in Chinese).
Lambourn also sang (without amplification) L’amour Est Un Oiseau Rebelle from Carmen. Her voice is beautifully rounded with a pleasing vibrato, and she was able to soar above the orchestra, which Noble allowed to play at something approaching full power. Lambourn took the aria at a moderate tempo and her French articulation was superb.
Violinist Amanda Chen performed the Butterfly Lovers’ Violin Concerto with great style. The single-movement composition traverses a range of styles over its seven distinct sections. From the first introduction on harp and flute, with hints of the pentatonic scale played on the violin, the first section has a rural feel to it, almost in the style of Copland. Chen’s rapid double stopping and spiccato was impressive, and her dialogue with the cello in the lagrimoso section was sublimely lyrical. The final melodic phrase on the violin was barely perceptible as it gently disappeared into the heights of the auditorium.
The second half of the program began with the iconic Montagues and the Capulets from the Romeo and Juliet Suite. Its theme of doomed love echoed the violin concerto, and prefaced the romantic sadness inherent in Si Mi Chiamo Mimi from La Bohème that followed. Soprano Cathy-Di Zhang sang with much passion, and her performance was the highlight of the concert. Her purity of tone and ability to tell a story had the audience spellbound, as did her rendition of Pamir, My Beautiful Hometown, although Noble again allowed the orchestra to almost dominate her.
The evening finished with the famous Yellow River Piano Concerto played by the uber talented Tony Lee – an award winner at the 2016 Sydney International Piano Competition. Lee has exceptional forearm strength that allows him to produce fortissimo sounds that are passionate and commanding without being merely loud and harsh. The composition is eclectic and does not follow the standard structure of a western-style concerto, and Lee commanded the diverse styles inherent in the piece. An impressive performance.
It is often said that music is a universal language that speaks across diverse cultures, and tonight’s concert was a perfect example.
Kym Clayton
When: Closed
Where: Adelaide Town Hall
Bookings: Closed
