REVIEW
Divergent musical styles
mix for exquisite match
On Friday evening the Honolulu Symphony presented a concert entitled "East-West Synthesis" that featured interpretations of Chinese music by Stravinsky and Hindemith as well as a performance by acclaimed dizi soloist Tang Jun Qiao.
Twentieth-century composers experimented widely with the combination of divergent musical styles. Gershwin blended jazz and classical music. Later avant-garde composers combined electronic and acoustic sounds.
COURTESY PHOTO
East-West Synthesis: The concert, with a performance by dizi soloist Tang Jun Qiao, repeats at 4 p.m. today at Blaisdell Concert Hall. Tickets are $16 to $59. Call 792-2000 for more information.
The aesthetic questions surrounding such hybrids center on whether it is truly possible to "meet in the middle." The larger philosophical question is whether it is fruitful to go there at all.
Here in Honolulu the confluence of Eastern and Western traditions has particular resonance, and the concert offered a glimpse of the possibilities of such a synthesis.
Stravinsky's "Song of the Nightingale" was composed after the famously dissonant "Rite of Spring," but Hans Christian Andersen's tale of the Chinese emperor cured by a nightingale's song inspired a much less dissonant and complex work. The array of tonal colors is impressive, featuring the cool timbres of two harps, celesta, and piano as well as the exotic sound of trombone glissandi.
Principal flutist Susan McGinn played the nightingale's song exquisitely. The piece recalls the orientalism of Stravinsky's teacher Rimsky-Korsakov, featuring numerous pentatonic scales and rich textures. The orchestra negotiated the difficult score with aplomb.
Tang is best known to Western audiences for her performance on the soundtrack of the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon." Her instrument, the dizi, is an ancient Chinese traditional instrument that looks similar to the familiar transverse flute. The sound is very different, however, owing to the bamboo out of which it is constructed and the resonating membrane that adds a buzzing quality to the timbre.
Tang treated the audience to performances on both the large qudi and smaller bangdi style flutes. She began with "Wilderness" by Yang Qing, which was surprisingly chromatic after the pentatonicism of the Stravinsky. She described the piece as "a wilderness of the mind -- a fever in the spirit." The second piece, "Hanging the Red Lanterns," had a festive virtuosity akin to a hoedown in style and harmony. "Fei Ge" featured blue notes, while her encore, "Birds," was a convincing imitation of natural sounds.
In all, the incorporation of Western sounds into a performance on a Chinese traditional instrument was even more unexpected than the incorporation of Chinese scales in the Stravinsky work.
Hindemith's "Symphonic Metamorphoses" found the orchestra in fine form. They interpreted the four movements, including one with pentatonic scales in emulation of Chinese music, with good humor and high spirits. The ensemble has tightened considerably after three weeks back in the saddle, and Samuel Wong led this performance with dash and flair.
At the end of the evening the question of the aesthetic feasibility of musical synthesis was still up in the air; the question of its advisability was answered in the affirmative.
E. Douglas Bomberger is a professor of music at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
