Original title: The National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra’s annual domestic tour ends (quote)
8 performances in 5 cities in 12 days, symphonic highlights blooming all the way (theme)
Beijing Daily reporter Gao Qian
Last weekend, the last note of Brahms’ “Second Symphony” landed in the Changsha Concert Hall. The audience burst into applause. Lu Jia, music director of the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra, and the musicians looked at each other and smiled with relief. So far, the orchestra’s 2023 domestic tour has come to a successful conclusion.
12 days, 5 cities, 8 performances, Lu Jia and the orchestra joined hands with Zhang Qiang, Qin Liwei, and Ma Xianghua, three famous performers, from Shanghai to Changsha, all the way across half of China. “A tour is first of all a responsibility, a responsibility to share our unique thinking and interpretation of music with more people.” Lu Jia said, he is willing to give this tour a score of 90. In this meaningful spring for the performing arts industry, a high-quality tour has brought quite positive signals.
Three sets of tracks show the strength of the orchestra
On the evening of March 14th, Bruckner’s “Seventh Symphony” was brilliant and magnificent in the Shanghai Oriental Art Center; on the evening of March 16th, in the Jiangsu Grand Theater in Nanjing, Chen Qigang’s cello concerto “The Elapsed Time” had a long meaning; on March 24th In the evening, in the Changsha Concert Hall, the erhu version of “The Elapsed Time” was even more lingering and sad…
These are the three unforgettable highlights of the NCPA Orchestra’s tour this year. Under the leadership of Lu Jia, the orchestra’s ability to control different styles of works is amazing. Including the above three works, in this tour, the orchestra also brought Yao Chen’s latest work “Far Crossing” based on Han Meilin’s “Book of Heaven”, Zhao Jiping’s “Second Pipa Concerto”, Chen Qigang’s “Life Like a Play”, Ye Xiaogang “Beautiful Country”, Wagner’s “Lohengrin” Act 1 Prelude, Brahms’ “Second Symphony”, both Chinese and foreign, spanning classics and contemporary times.
“We don’t want to only perform some so-called popular ‘jobs’ during the tour. From a long-term perspective, this will be a kind of harm to the orchestra and the audience.” Ren Xiaolong, general manager of the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra, said. In terms of repertoire design, the orchestra not only has the feeling of promoting Chinese works to be known to more audiences, but also has the “ambition” to show its strength with the help of German and Austrian classics. More than ten years ago, Bruckner was recognized as a “box office poison” in the industry. Until now, his works are still known for their difficulty. But for musicians with artistic ideals, the challenge makes them feel excited. Lu Jia gave a more direct description, Bruckner’s works “can make people’s skin crawl”.
The orchestra, tempered by a large number of operas and symphonies, has exploded its ability to control difficult classics. In Shanghai, the orchestra played the first “Bu Qi” in the tour, which was an instant hit, and the performance was so sensational that it even directly drove the box office of the next few stops. Music critic Zhang Keju commented unsparingly. In his mind, this is one of the few performances by domestic orchestras that deserves a standing ovation.
“Domestic products self-improvement” shows the style of the capital
“We are all in bands, so it is very clear that Bruckner’s works are generally not touched.” said Chen Guangxian, chairman of the China Symphony Development Foundation and director of the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra. Even at the moment when classical music has been accelerated, “the number of performances of these works is far from being comparable to that of Mozart and Beethoven.” However, the young National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra has established a systematic interpretation of Bruckner’s works At present, Lu Jia has led the orchestra to present the composer’s Symphony Nos. 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9. Next year, Lu Jia hopes to record a full set of 9 symphonies with the orchestra to pay sincere respect to Bruckner on the 200th anniversary of his birth.
“Now, all walks of life are talking about ‘self-improvement with domestic products’. Over the years, foreign orchestras have been showing their voices and demeanor to Chinese fans. When they come to perform ‘Mahler IX’ or ‘Bu Qi’, we Where should the band be?” Ren Xiaolong said. In his view, one of the purposes of the tour is to let more audiences see the strength and demeanor of the National Center for the Performing Arts and the Capital Art Troupe, so that the Chinese Orchestra can also become the pride of domestic music fans.
While performing imported classics, it is the unshirkable mission of all Chinese musicians to promote Chinese sounds. In this tour, Chinese works with various themes and styles are highlights that cannot be ignored. Famous cellist Qin Liwei has a soft spot for “The Elapsed Time”. “This work contains the melody of “Three Lanes of Plum Blossoms”, which is a very fascinating dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures.” Qin Liwei said, “From a more macro and long-term perspective, it is also a piece of music that is meaningful to the Chinese cello career. Major works. For piano, we have “Yellow River”, for violin, we have “Blessing Lovers”, and cello also needs such classics.”
Clouds of victorious friends drive cultural exchanges
Out of the haze of the epidemic, the performance industry is recovering rapidly, and the cross-regional tour is a positive signal. Like pebbles, it stirs up ripples in the local cultural life wherever it goes, and new and old friends quickly gather—in Shanghai, many of the audience are from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Love Colleagues from the music orchestra, Shanghai Concert Hall, Shanghai Grand Theater and other academies, the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra performing in Shanghai also exchanged visits and exchanges with the National Center for the Performing Arts Orchestra, and reached many cooperation intentions; in Guangzhou, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra , Xinghai Concert Hall, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and other art institutions also came to join in the learning…
Music fans from all over the world are also extremely unforgettable scenery during the tour: some people came across the city to watch the performance, and waited in the actor’s aisle after the show, until all the instruments were packed and transported, they were still watching the performers leave; When the orchestra will come again, they even ordered the tracks they want to listen to; on major social platforms, music fans wrote down their feelings with sincere words, or commented on the highlights of the orchestra’s performance, or straightforwardly proposed improvements. suggestion.
“Only by communicating and comparing can we truly discover our own gap.” Ren Xiaolong is very happy to hear these real voices. Li Zhe, the chief of the orchestra, compared the tour to training. The constant external stimulation along the way “tears the muscles and allows us to re-recognize our own abilities.”
Compared with the tour in 2021, this time, the orchestra has added more sharing activities such as fan meetings and master classes to the itinerary, face-to-face with the local audience, everyone’s enthusiasm and insights into music, and a culture that is infiltrated in them. The cultural temperament of the city will become the nutrient for the orchestra to move forward in the future. “Although we are in Beijing, we belong to the whole country. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the Capital Orchestra to continuously, regularly and high-quality go out of Beijing to meet friends.” Ren Xiaolong said. In the future, the orchestra still has more plans to go out and continue to explore a healthy and long-term Chinese orchestra tour mechanism.