The scene of the performance on the evening of the 11th Beijing International Music Festival is provided
Beijing, October 12 (China News Network) -- On the evening of the 11th, the works of Chinese composer Chen Qigang and the two violin works of French composer Saint-Saën were performed in the same concert. With the theme of "Masters and Commemoration", the 24th Beijing International Music Festival opened the prelude to the Beijing International Music Festival's series of plans to commemorate many composer masters in the form of dialogue between Chinese and foreign composers.
The concert opened with Chen Qigang's famous "Peking Opera Moments". Although the piano piece he composed in 2000 is named after "Peking Opera", it completely exceeds the audience's inherent impression of Peking Opera, a traditional Chinese art. Chen Qigang develops the individual motives and sound patterns in Peking Opera, and interprets the artistic conception of traditional Chinese music culture with a very personal color and expression. In 2014, "Peking Opera Moments" was adapted by the composer to perform the prelude to the symphony, from the percussion instruments used in traditional theatrical bands and the symphony orchestra, and the huge symphonic texture greatly enriched the expressiveness of the original work, bringing the audience a multi-layered listening experience.
"Life like a Drama" appeared as the last track of the concert. This work uses a very modern musical language to express the drama in life, condensing the composer's personal life experience and philosophy. In the lively rhythm, the perception of life and the short musical motivation burst out one after another. As a first-class composer in China, Chen Qigang shows extremely superb creative skills in this work, and he creates a continuous accumulation of musical strength and color with the dense and staggered musical textures and the rich changes in the orchestration of the works, and the contrast and harmony between strong and weak movements, expressing profound musical philosophies.
"There are 5 tones, 7 bars in this work, which have been repeated 139 times, repeated again and again, but there are changes in the repetition, really like everyone's daily life", conductor Jing Huan interpreted, "so it is 'like a drama life', he wants to express life instead of drama." ”
Violinists Xu Weiling (right) and Liu Ming (left) Courtesy of the Beijing International Music Festival
In the middle of the two Chinese works, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and violinists Xu Weiling and Liu Ming jointly performed Saint-Sang's "Third Violin Concerto" and "Second Violin Concerto". Compared with the more unpopular latter, the soloist Xu Weiling is played. This work composed by Saint-San as a young man was not first played in China until 2012, when the soloist who played it was Xu Weiling. On the night of the 11th, Xu Weiling showed amazing skills, especially the showmanship passages of the third movement, which were comfortable and full of tension.
In 2021, as composers such as Stravinsky, Mahler, and Saint-Saën ushered in the year of birth or death, the Beijing International Music Festival launched the theme of "Masters and Remembrance" and commemorated the composers in a unique way of dialogue between China and the West, creating a new space for the exchange of music between the East and the West, and giving new connotations to the Chinese concept. This year, French composer Saint-Saëns celebrates the 100th anniversary of his death. The Beijing International Music Festival launched this "Like a Drama Life" Concert of Symphonic Works of Saint-Sang and Chen Qigang.
Saint-Saën was one of the most influential composers of the French Romantic period. In the impression of many viewers, the musical melody of the French Romantic period is affectionate and sweet, with the aesthetic poetry unique to the French nation, and Saint-Saëns is the greatest interpreter of this musical style. His creative direction is very rich, and among the symphonies, the Third Symphony, which includes the organ, is famous all over the world. The Animal Carnival is fun and vivid in the chamber music work. In the field of opera creation, Samson and Dalila is still one of the most performed French opera works. In the creation of the concerto, three violin concertos of Saint-Saën were loved by soloists.
As a Chinese composer who began a dialogue with Saint-Saën, Chen Qigang also has deep roots in French music. Chen Qigang studied in France and studied music composition with the composer Messian. Chen Qigang deeply combines Western composition techniques with Chinese music aesthetics in his music creation. In the concert of the evening, chen qigang and two works of saint-saën, fully showed the different musical styles of the two composers, and the panorama presented the wonderful echo of romance and poetry in different eras and different cultures. (End)
Source: China News Network