China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Festival to highlight composer’s unique sound
Involving elements of Western dance, the audience will be treated to a new approach to traditional music, Chen Nan reports.
Under the baton of conductor Huang Yi, the China Philharmonic Orchestra will perform four works by Chinese composer Guo Wenjing at the Poly Theater in Beijing on Sunday.
Titled A Journey Through Lands and Sounds, the concert is part of the 24th Beijing Music Festival, one of the largest classical music events in the country, which will kick off on Saturday, and run through Oct 24.
The concert will start with Guo’s music piece, Riyue Mountain, a passacaglia for orchestra. Passacaglia is an old dance form that became popular in Italy, Spain and France during the 17th and 18th centuries. The tempo is slow, and usually adopted to a triple meter with a stress on the second beat. Guo borrowed the dance music form and combined it with Chinese music.
“The rhythm of Chinese music is like a river, flowing naturally. Passacaglia is very different from Chinese music, which strikes at the heart of the listeners with its repetitive melody, like a seed growing up. I want to combine them together to bring out a unique sound experience for the listeners,” says Guo, 65, who teaches at the Central Conservatory of Music.
Like Riyue Mountain, the second piece to be performed during the concert, Bamboo Flute Concerto No 2 Wild Fire, for bamboo flute and orchestra, also reflects the composer’s ideas of exploring Chinese music and instruments. The composer’s wife, flutist Tang Junqiao, will perform the music piece during the concert.
“Usually we showcase Chinese musical instruments against the backdrop of music works with distinctive folk music elements. Wild Fire is an adventure for bamboo flute, a very traditional Chinese musical instrument. I tried to create a music piece for bamboo flute, which is contemporary and independent,” the composer says.
The productive composer has a wide range of repertoires for symphony orchestras, chamber music and operas. He has composed for two ballet productions by the National Ballet of China: The Peony Pavilion in 2008 and Dunhuang in 2017. During the upcoming concert, the second movement of Guo’s music piece, The Youth and Love, Death and Immortality of the Guardians, which was for the National Ballet of China’s production, Dunhuang, will be performed.
The concert will be closed by Guo’s symphony suite, titled Journeys, for soprano and orchestra, which will be joined by soprano Song Yuanming. Inspired by contemporary Chinese poet Xi Chuan’s poem of the same title, the music piece follows a man’s journey from starry sky to big ocean.
“I love poems. I feel connected to those lines, which are full of warmth and power. I composed this piece in the form of an art song,” says Guo, adding that Journeys consists of four movements, which he hopes to pay tribute to Richard Strauss’ Vier Letzte Liederbased (Four Last Songs), the final completed works of Strauss depicting the different stages of life.
Born in Chongqing city, Guo started to learn the violin at the age of 12. At 16, Guo started working at the Chongqing Song and Dance Ensemble. He taught himself to compose and in 1978, he was admitted to the composition department of the Beijing
Central Conservatory of Music in the first year when the country resumed the national entrance examination for college students after the “cultural revolution” (1966-76). Guo and his classmates, including Tan Dun, Chen Qigang, Zhou Long, Qu Xiaosong and Liu Suola, became the first generation of Chinese composers to be recognized by Western audiences.
“I’ve gained lots of experience as a composer, which is like a doubleedged sword. It could be very helpful
when I create a new piece and at the same time, it could hinder creativity. It’s important to be open to fresh sounds and ideas. I’ve always kept that in mind,” says Guo.
In 1994, Guo’s first opera, Wolf Cub Village, premiered in Amsterdam and received wide acclaim throughout Europe. The Chinese-language chamber opera in four scenes is based on Chinese writer Lu Xun’s A Madman’s Diary. Later, he has composed operas, including Night Banquet, Poet Li Bai and Hua Mulan.
In 2003, two of Guo’s operas: Wolf Cub Village and Night Banquet, were staged at the 6th Beijing Music Festival.
The composer says he is an old friend of the Beijing Music Festival. During the past 18 years, 16 music pieces by Guo have been staged during the festival since 2003, including six of Guo’s operas.
In 1998, conductor Yu Long founded the Beijing Music Festival and was its artistic director from 1998 to 2018. Featuring operas, symphonic
concerts, recitals and chamber music concerts, the annual event has served as a platform for cultural exchange and for showcasing Chinese musicians.
This year, Chinese composers and their works will be highlighted. Besides Guo’s music, works by Tan Dun, Chen Qigang and Ding Shande (1911-95) will be performed during the festival.