Review: Tchaikovsky
When I heard the sound of a sheng conjured out of the Sinfonietta's wind section, I knew I was in the hands of a fine orchestrator. Composer Huang Ruo also imitated the suona and lion dance percussion so well I couldn't tell how it was done.
When I heard the sound of a sheng conjured out of the Sinfonietta's wind section, I knew I was in the hands of a fine orchestrator. Composer Huang Ruo also imitated the suona and lion dance percussion so well I couldn't tell how it was done.
His Folk Songs for Orchestra are some of the best arrangements of Chinese folk songs I have heard, and it makes a wonderful concert opener.
The Flower Drum Song from Feng Yang is traditionally used for street buskers. The trill opening settled into a pretty texture of flute and oboe with plucked strings. For Love Song from Kang Ding the music was sweetly romantic with sophisticated string harmonies.
The Girl from the Da Ban City is a Uyghur song from Xinjiang, and was given a rousing brass and percussion setting.
Wendy Law (below centre) was the cello soloist in the Tchaikovsky Variations on a Rococo Theme. She conveyed the mood with flair. However, her tone was at times edgy and the intonation and bowing were not always clean, especially in some crucial moments at the top of climactic phrases. But her lyrical, meditative playing in the two andante sections had the audience rapt.