Rachmaninoff brought to life in Chinese
A Chinese musical version of “Rachmaninoff” is being staged at the city’s Theater Above over the weekend.
It is a new production, by SAIC Shanghai Culture Square, based on the Korean musical of the same name. It features a single chapter of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s life — the birth of his “Piano Concerto No.2, after his being psychologically wounded by overwhelming negative reviews on his Symphony No.1.
All of the melodies used in the musical were selected from Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No.1 and Piano Concerto No.2, rather than any new creations.
A musical with classic music is very rare, even globally, according to Fei Yuanhong, vice general manger of Shanghai Culture Square who was attracted by the original Korean musical when he saw it for the first time.
“Rachmaninoff’s music is rich and profound like a good wine, yet hard to get. But the musical, to some extent, made it into a latte, which is easier to be accepted by most ordinary people,” says Fei.
Showing the greatest respect to the renowned Russian composer, the creative team did not turn any of Rachmaninoff’s music into pop, but made it “smaller” by presenting the pieces with six strings and one piano rather than a big orchestra, so it fits the stage for musical better, according to music director Jiang Qinghua. Still, it is challenging to adapt to such a great classic piece for vocal in musical.
“The two works by Rachmaninoff were for instruments that do not need breathing, but humans do,” Jiang says. “To sing vocals you need to take deep breaths and show emotion. So, what we did was take out the main melodies, added Chinese lyrics and created a new orchestration accordingly. It is a kind of re-production.”
Although he did not major in classical music himself, Jiang quite enjoyed the creation of bringing classical music closer to the ordinary.
“Classical music is often seen as something highbrow in China. And not many people may even know the name of Rachmaninoff. But I think that a light musical may interest some people getting to know more about classical music or the composer,” says Jiang.
Date: Through November 25, 7:30pm
Tickets: 80-280 yuan
Venue: Theater Above
Address: 5/F, 1111 Zhaojiabang Rd
