CLASSICAL COLLABORATION
The world’s oldest and most renowned music label, Deutsche Grammophon, has just signed a contract with China’s top conductor and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Chen Jie reports.
Yu Long, China’s preeminent conductor on the international scene, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon on June 7 to become the first Chinese conductor and orchestra to join the world’s oldest and most renowned classical music label.
Their first DG recording will be released in 2019 to celebrate the 140th anniversary of SSO, the oldest symphony orchestra in China.
One of the pieces in the recording will be Chinese
composer Chen Qigang’s La Joie de la souffrance for Violin
and Orchestra, which was co-commissioned by the Beijing Music Festival and premiered at last year’s closing concert of the event in Beijing.
Another piece that will feature in the album is Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dance.
Separately, the SSO also plans to record two more albums featuring Chinese composers’ works and Mahler’s pieces under the yellow label.
Meanwhile, in addition to the albums, DG will also release earlier recordings from the SSO’s existing catalogue.
DG also announced at its headquarters in Berlin on Monday that it will celebrate its 120th anniversary this year with an unprecedented range of activities across the world. And Yu and the SSO will join the celebrations with a gala concert at the Imperial Ancestral Temple of the Forbidden City on October 10.
There, they will perform Orff ’s Carmina Burana with soprano Aida Garifullina, tenor Toby Spence and baritone Ludovic Tezier, before being joined by pianist Helene Grimaud for Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major.
Speaking about the contract, Clemens Trautmann, the president of DG, says: “I am excited about the new partnership. And we will collaborate with these leading and inspiring musicians and institutions in the world’s most vibrant classical music environment.
“The work Yu has accomplished with the Shanghai Symphony in the last decade is truly remarkable. And it is reflected today in his high-profile international engagements and in the orchestra’s impressive tour schedule, including its debut at last year’s Lucerne Summer Festival.
“The recordings will help draw global attention to the outstanding musicianship of Long Yu and the SSO, and foster the already significant profile of DG in China.”
Fedina Zhou Ping, the president of SSO says that DG and Yu started to discuss the partnership in early 2017. And they appreciate Yu’s critically acclaimed work as music director of the SSO as well as his active engagement in classical music in both China and the world.
“Maestro Yu has worked with the SSO for a decade, and always promotes the orchestra’s powerful blend of tradition and ambition,” she says.
“Under his direction, the SSO has become one of the most vibrant arts organizations in the region. And Maestro Yu has designed professional seasons, introduced world-class musicians to the SSO, created the Music in the Summer Air Festival and the Shanghai Orchestra Academy with the New York Philharmoinc Orchestra, and has lifted the SSO to a world standard.”
As for Yu, he says he is thrilled to be associated with the yellow label.
“It’s not only a great honor to me and the SSO, but a recognition of China’s classical music development.
“China is not only the second largest economy in the world, but its culture also has a great impact globally.
“So, we are determined to reach out to music lovers across the world, and will now be able to connect with new listeners through our recordings for the yellow label.
“I look forward to recording works by Chinese composers and sharing these and the wonderful artistry that the SSO brings to the great symphony repertoire with international audiences.”
Composer Chen Qigang, whose work will feature on the first album, says: “It’s easy to see the honor, but not the hard work and painstaking efforts behind the achievement. Thanks to Yu for choosing my work for the first DG album.”
Congratulations also came from other composers and musicians.
Chinese composer Guo Wenjing says: “DG’s contract is a big deal. The yellow label is a dream for musicians and orchestras.”
Tu Song, a clarinetist and the Beijing Music Festival’s program director, says: “Although people now mostly listen to digital music, most classic music is still recorded on albums.”
“DG’s contract with Yu and the SSO represents a recognition and encouragement for Chinese musicians and orchestras.”
Yu’s links with the SSO go back to 2009.
Besides, he founded the China Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000, and has been its music director since.
Yu is also the music director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra that he joined in 2003.
And he has also devoted a lot of effort to the development of both orchestras.
Explaining why he decided to link the SSO with DG, he says that the SSO is the oldest orchestra in China, and possibly Asia, going back more than 150 years, and that in the last few decades, it has made a mark on the world classical music scene.
Shanghai opened to the Western world in 1843 and since that time, foreign cultures have integrated with Chinese culture through this commercial port.
The first Western music performers made a mark on the mainland in 1879 when a group of foreign musicians formed the Shanghai Public Band. Then, a few years later, Italian pianist Mario Paci built up the orchestra to more than 50 players, including some Chinese musicians.
Arrigo Foa then took over the baton from Paci in 1942. And Chinese musician Huang Yijun became the first Chinese conductor after new China was founded in 1949.
The orchestra became formally known as the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra in 1956.
As for Yu, he was born into a musical family in Shanghai in 1964, and then studied at the Shanghai Conservatory followed by Berlin’s Hochschule de Kunste.
His time in Germany was influential in many ways. And speaking about his time there, he says:
“It was in Berlin that I learned the most important things about life, not just from my music studies but from the city’s incredible culture scene as a whole.”
Later, upon his return to China in the early 1990s, he began working with the country’s leading orchestras.
He then founded the Beijing Music Festival in 1998 and China Philharmonic Orchestra in 2000. He is also the principal guest conductor with the Hong Kong Philhamonic Orchestra.
His guest-conducting work includes collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the WDR Sinfonieorchester Koln, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.