The musical program of the tour 2013
The program of the tour is composed by the orchestra, like every year, to specifically demonstrate the specialities of the region from which the orchestra comes. Each region in China has its own musical tradition with different sounds and contents. This year, the orchestra comes from the province SHAANXI from the province capital XIAN, which is famous for their terracotta army. The province is dominated by the Wei river which flows from west to east and then mouthes into the Yellow River which froms the eastern border of the province. Three quarters of the population lives near the Wei river. In the North a fertile loess loam forms a high plain which has, in spite of its fertility a rather uncomfortable climate due to the long cold winters. In the South a large mountain chain separates the penurious high plain climate from the tropical Southern climate. These geografical and climatological specialities are also expressed in the music of the region.
The Great Chinese New Year Concert 2013 in its tour is visiting the finest concert halls in Europe, but one of them is very special: The old farm house of Gut Varrel in the city of Stuhr, close to Bremen.
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The first Part
1 - The Chang An burning
Chang An, that means in English „Long lasting peace“. The long street in Beijing which parts the city from West to East und passes by the Forbidden City and the Square of the Portal of Heavenly Peace, is called "Chang An Boulevard" and at the same time refers to the old name of the province capital of Shaanxi which is called Xian today, and the "burning" is the burning of the hearts in deep longings. The ever longing for a long peace is especially in China very deep, because in history there were only few ages which granted enduring peace concentrating on great cultural results. In this way the piece expresses the longing of people for a happy life in a future free of sorrow embraced by a Long Lasting Piece. And like a metaphor for the beginning of such life, the Chinese Spring Festival, the beginning of the New Year, is taken as an occasion to let such longings become reality in its festivity. Insofar, this peace is a really completed finish at the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Snake.
2 - The pretty Landscape of Jiaocheng
Dizi Solo
Jiaocheng is a city in the province Shaanxi. The landscape is a fertile loess loam high plateau with a stunning view. The music is a description of the impressions of this landscape, which lets visitors stop motion with its magic. As often in Chinese traditional music of landscape descriptions, the Chinese bamboo flute Dize is used. This instrument is traditionally of limited tone range, but was further developed by contemporate musicians so that today also chromatic half tones can be played. The Dizi sounds like a mixture of a Western flute in an orchestra and a South American pan flute made from common reed. It is played as a transverse flute and is perfectly adapted to the feelings of emotional touch because of its extremely soft, even fragile tone.
3 - Vocal Solo of Li Ya with orchestra
Mrs Li Ya is presently a postgraduate in the central conservatory in Beijing. She won the first award for vocal arts in a musical competition of the province Shaanxi. Then she become "Best singer for Chinese vocal repertoire" in the seventh China Art Festival sponsored by the Chinese Cultural Ministry.
As a first song, Mrs Li Ya sings the song "My brother the shepherd" (arranged by Ren Tongxiang). This is a folksong from the province of Shaanxi. In this song the daugher of a rich patron falls in love with a poor seasonal land worker. She loves the poor shepherd very much and by all means wants to marry him. The lady in love is presented very vividly by the nature of the singing. The song is part of the standard repertoire in Chinese concerts and is well known in China.
She then sings the folk song "Delicious Wine" from the province Xinjiang. Xinjiang is a huge province with uncomfortable climate in the outest West of China, in this province the moslemic culture of China plays a big role, because ther the Uigures - China's moslem minority - are at home. The music is vivid and gay, all after the direct expression and joyful life of the uiguric population.
4 - Folksongs from the west of China
There are four folksongs presented: "Song of a coachman", "At a far away place", "Revealment of the veil", and "Dance of the youth".
The "Song of a coachman" was known world wide as Chinese music in the first half of the last century. Also in China it is very favoured. It describes a coachman, who sits high on his coach seat doing his service and who is not bothered by the troubles of the world.
"At a far a way place" was transcribed by Wang Luobing, who especially in the West of China has collected many folk songs and so saved them from being forgotten. The song describes how distance is overcome by the feelings of people who feel close to each other, the longing and the expectation of happiness in case of reunion.
The song "Revealment of the veil" refers to the moslemic tradition of the Uigurs. The simple country life is described in its traditions.
Finally, with "Dance of the youth" a music piece is played which attacks the audience by its shortness and crispiness. It comes from the Xinjiang Province, the home of the Uigurs.It shows a wild, overwhelming joy of movement in dance, as it is common with young people.5 - Suona Solo "All Birds PRaise the Phoenix"
The suona is the "Chinese trumpet", although creating the sounds by means of a reed similar to a European oboe. This very well known piece belongs to the music type of "realism of nature", it expresses in very direct way the sounds of a healthy, living nature, for instance the singing birds. Many regional influences are worked into this piece, and the aim is to set the audience into the illusion to be amid an unstressed and undamaged nature. This piece is often played in New Year concerts in China, and it was also more often in the program of the Great Chinese New Year Concert.
6 - Command of the Generals
Traditional Chinese Orchestra-Ouverture
From historical times a pipa music is overcome which is played here with a more modern arrangement. In this arranged version the Chinese wind instruments and the Chinese percussion instruments dominate the music. String instruments (Erhu, Pipa) stand in the background. Expressed are Generals in victory who come home from a successful combat. The music goes on in waves, the instruments increase their sound, only to fall back again and swell again. This expresses the emotional uprise in the joy over the victory.
Intermission
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The second part
7 - The great tree of the Erudite
There is an old Chinese proverb: "If you ask me wherefrom I come, so I answer you: From the Great Tree of the Erudite in Hongtong in the Shaanxi Province". Hongtong means an old place of pilgrimage. Here the pilgrims sink into thoughts about their origin and about their ancestors. In the music you recognize the travellers who understand themselves as descendants of their ancestors.
8 - CLOUD over the rainbow
Guzheng-Solo with Orchestra
In the Tang Dynasty there was a poem of Li Bai about the concubine of the Tang Emperor Xuanzong, the pretty "Lady Yang" Yang Guifei. In the verses you read: "Clouds remind me of her clothes, flowers remind me of her face. I long so much for my beloved one, in this world nothing is so valuable like love." This subject is often worked with in the Chinese art, in drawings, poems, operas, music. This piece expresses the deep emotions of the emperor, with a fragile musical theme, played by the Guzheng, that goes into your heart and lets the audience empethize the deep feelings.
9 - Jasmin-Blossom
Women have always played a great role in Eastern societies, although formally subordinated. They always were housekeeper, mother, advisor, concubine. They have influenced the future of entire kingdoms. The role of women in the society is often compared with a jasmin bush in full blossom: The white colour of the blossom as a sign of purgation, the sweet scent as a symbol of feminity and grace. The piece "Jasmin blossom" which is well known in China expresses how women in society strive for love, happiness and ideals in grace, diligence and perseverance and lead the entire society in this way to the good.
10 - Vocal solo pf Du Pengpeng with Orchestra
Mr Du Pengpeng sings three parts: "The mandarin duck couple", "The great yellow river", and "Folk songs from the North of the Shaanxi Province". Mr Du Pengpeng is First Singer at the Cultural Arts Center in the city of Yan'an in the province Shaanxi and owns many awards for vocal arts.
"The mandarin duck couple" is a metaphor of love which men feel for their wives in the Shaanxi Province. Faithfulness, devotion and closeness are the essence of the impassionate solidarity of loving couples. In the lyrics of the song it says: "I will share your sorrow and will also miss you even when very close".
The "Great Yellow River" is one of the three large rivers of China and has special importance because of its yellow colour caused by the yellow loess loam which fertilizes the land along the river banks during floods. Many stories deal with the yellow river, which is sort of a national basic column of Chinese culture. It also flows through the Shaanxi Province as its Eastern boundary in many winding bends and turns. The song describes this intricate course of the river, the many boats on its water and the many helmsmen who steer the boats up and down.
The "Folk songs from the North of the Shaanxi Province" follow a certain local format of culture which is known as Xin Tian You. The deep feelings are expressed with a sonorous voice. The population of the highlands of the loess loam plateau in the North of Shaanxi are very joyous and they love their homeland more than anything else. The woman are graceful and pretty to look at. The people also speak a very well sounding dialect, and the songs are sung in this dialect.11 - The silk road
The Silk Road is for Westerners synonymous for the historical way to China. But there was no single way to China, historically there were many trade ways to China in the South and through the Gobi desert.
On the other hand, the Silk Road also represents the meeting of many foreign cultures. In this music work, created by the contemporary composer Jiang Ying, the traditional Chinese instruments are presented in their specific sound characteristic, and with this musical elements from foreign cultures are incorporated to underline the meeting of cultures. If you listen carefully, you can recognize Flamenco, Tango and step dance and can at the same time find the characteristics of Chinese sounds. This is an especially felicitous work of Chinese music art.Encores
The orchestra, like all artist groups, is nourished by the audience's applause for encores. This is not different in this concert. The encores are short pieces from the typical Chinese repertoire. Among these is normally also a piece, regularly as a second encore, which is a specially arranged German folk song. This shall bring the sound of a well known melody to the audience in a new dress, and so it lets become clearer - in its unification with the sounds of Chinese traditional instruments and specific Chinese arrangement - the emotional character of Chinese music. Look forward to recognize the song.