PLUCKED STRINGS
Ding Yi Music Company
Esplanade Recital Studio
Wednesday (17 April 2024)
DOUBLE FEATURE
Chen Le & Friends
National Library Board Building
Friday (19 April 2024)
This review was published in The Straits Times on 22 April 2024 with the title "Ding Yi, Chen Le & friends explore the intricacies of Chinese tunes".
There is no better way of getting close to Chinese musical instruments than attending concerts of Ding Yi Music Company’s chamber music series. These often involve interesting and unusual repertoire, stimulating and empowering the listener after each show.
Seven contrasting works in this 90-minute concert offered a deep dive into the piquant world of plucked strings. The guzheng is haunting when heard on its own, as Yvonne Tay proved in Liu Le’s serenely beautiful Sound of Emerald. Even in the plain heterophony of The Deep Night (arranged by Liu Dehai), five unison instruments – two pipas, one each of zhongruan, guzheng and yangqin – provided a satisfying simplicity.
Sonic textures varied when more instruments entered the fray. The world premiere of Cao Wen Gong’s Sweetness in Every Step upped the ante, with accompaniment by cello and percussion. In Liu Xing’s Dance, Chua Yew Kok’s pipa and Wong Wai Kit’s zhongruan gave rhythmic impetus with unusual results. This animated romp had a beat closer to Western jazz than Chinese music.
Two concertante works were showcases of solo virtuosity, with Tan Jie Qing’s yangqin first putting a shine on Wong Fei Yun’s Ten-Mile Red Dowry. This dramatic work opened slowly, then gradually ramped to a fast dance before receding into quietude.
Zhang Ying, pipa principal of Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, was the memorable guest in Luk Wai Chun’s Moments between Ledges and Frets. Belying its mundane title, this was an imperious display of pipa as both string and percussion instrument. Accompanied by 14 players and conductor Dedric Wong, its ten minutes of contemporary idioms defied expectations by providing both a visual spectacle and entertaining listen.
The work that truly summed up the evening was Li Bo Chan’s Sorrowfully and Quietly. Five plucked instruments (including two ruans) placed centrestage coursed through ruminative and playful moments before a surprise. It was Bekhzod Oblayorov’s cello - a bowed string instrument - that had the big tune at its conclusion.
Unlike Ding Yi’s clear intentions, the world premiere of Double Feature (2024) by Nanjing-born and locally-based composer Chen Le was left nebulous, perhaps deliberately. Was this a concert work or a piece of theatre? Was Chinese or Western music being played?
Held at National Library’s ground floor foyer, its six movements opened with Hu Tao Jiazi playing violin exercises. She was later joined by soprano Zhang Jie singing in Mandarin and English, which included a spot for audience participation.
This was merely a prelude to the entrance of Beijing opera artist Ren Wei Chen, playing Chang Er (moon goddess of Chinese mythology), clearly the production’s star, accompanied by the composer on piano. Her elaborate make-up and period outfit bedecked with jewelled finery were matched by an intense Chinese operatic voice, gazing eyes and sleek swirls with sashes circumscribing wide arcs of graceful motion.
Both vocalists, understandably, did not sing together, instead alternating their acts of divergent idioms. The absence of projected texts and transliterations was a handicap, so one had to be content with enjoying the stunning visuals. That was until Chen systemically removed accessories and head-piece, disrobing nearly completely to reveal under the facial paint - a man!
With climax over and done with, what remained was more violin music, now accompanied by piano four hands (Chen with Zhao Ling Yan), in a quasi-New Age, quasi-minimalist idiom. LaSalle College of the Arts’ head of contemporary music Timothy O’Dwyer made a cameo improvising on saxophone, having no relation with the earlier 45 minutes.
Despite interesting ideas, Double Feature is a work in progress, falling short of the sum of its parts.
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