Traditional music with some modern oomph

The Shanghai Chinese Orchestra has announced a diverse concert program for the 2019-20 season, including classical masters, new works and a joint concert with the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra. 

The latter highlight will feature the classic Russian instrument, the balalaika, and the traditional Chinese lute, or ruan.

Joint concerts with a foreign folk music orchestra are a recent innovation of the Shanghai orchestra. Previous concerts featured the Flamingo guitar paired with the traditional four-stringed pipa, giving the latter instrument a more contemporary sound.

This year’s guest, the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra, was founded by balalaika player B.C. Troyanovski in 1919. The concert will pair the triangular, stringed Russian instrument with the circular stringed ruan, sometime in contretemps, to highlight the best of both instruments and also their disparities.

Most of the 2019-20 season will focus on traditional Chinese music, both old and new.

“We have many young musicians born in the 1990s in our orchestra, which is a great treasure that helps re-energize and reinvent ancient instruments and sounds,” said orchestra director Luo Xiaoci, a Chinese zither player in her 40s.

“Our glorious ancient sounds and musical heritage will die out if we don’t continue developing and revibrating them,” she added.

To feature the talents of young musicians, the orchestra will dedicate several concerts to young performers playing traditional masterworks. 

Many young musicians are selected from annual traditional music competitions, which will continue this year. The orchestra has asked top Chinese music composers to write original pieces for the finalists competing on stage.

“Made in Shanghai” will showcases new works by local musicians, highlighting “Our Common Land,” a signature annual concert integrating worldwide folk music with pieces from China.

“Many people have a misunderstanding of traditional Chinese music, thinking it is restrictive when compared to the Western symphony, which is rather ridiculous,” orchestra conductor Wang Fujian once told the media.

People used to think that traditional Chinese musical instruments were only for solos, and many tried to find ways to incorporate them into an orchestra. That barrier has long been surmounted, he said, citing pieces from renowned composer Tan Dun, who created Chinese orchestral pieces that cannot be replicated by a Western symphony orchestra.

“Hero” is a Chinese symphonic epic and a highlight of this season. Commissioned by the orchestra, the 80-minute piece was written by composer Li Bochan, who is in his 20s. It is played with a full Chinese orchestra of more than 100 musicians.

The piece is divided into six sections, each featuring an ancient hero from Chinese legend and a traditional Chinese instrument.

The opening chorus is a tribute to Pan Gu, the legendary hero born into chaos and darkness, who separated heaven and earth, yin and yang, with the swing of his axe. Another section honors Ling Lun, who invented ancient musical notes after hearing birds singing. It is played on various Chinese flutes, which can imitate birdsong.

And yet another section, an ode to Cang Ji, makes extensive use of the ruan, producing a deep, tender sound that praises Cang’s achievements in creating Chinese characters that laid the foundation for thousands of years of written heritage.

“Everybody has a hero complex,” composer Li said. “The dream of heroes, all the way from ancient times to today, has motivated generations of Chinese. I hope to pay tribute to those heroes through this piece, especially those contemporary heroes around us, and to evoke everyone’s dream to become a hero.”