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A dramatic entrance from statuesque soprano Yanchaun Zhang immediately suspended the audience into the centre of a theatrical performance. She wore a scarlet, floorlength satin dress and her hair (or to be precise, the wig that was covering her hair) was wrapped up dramatically and clasped with a glittering hairpiece, revealing a pair of below-shoulder length scarlet tassle earrings. Her stance, just like her porcelain appearance was doll-like, and it was difficult to see her eyes for the dramatically long, curled (fake) eyelashes. This theatrical presentation, rich and exotic though it was, left me feeling perhaps there was some intimacy, some human-to-human communication lost. I was certainly impressed at the theatrical drama of her performance, but I also felt as if I could have been sat many tens of meters further away and would not have lots any detail or subtlety from her performance. So, not a criticism of her singing, or the performance, just the staging perhaps didn’t make the most of a wonderfully intimate venue – something that is incredibly rare these days.
The sparkly northern and woody southern Chinese flute, the colourful Zither and the highly brilliant, almost nasal, highly ornamented vocal lines took me on an incredibly vivid journey through the landscape and culture of a country that is arguably economically and politically one of the most topical countries of the world. The programme mixed folk, classical and contemporary classical Chinese music written for various combinations of piano, Zither, Flute and Soprano. All performers showed absolutely seamless, flawless and masterful control over their instruments (voice included), and played with a wisdom and sensitivity that both did their distinguished reputations justice, and also gave the listener a tangible sense of the importance of music in this ancient culture. Yanchuan's coloratura was utterly impressive – folky, expressive decorations encrusted every song. An especially refreshing (and, in my view important) experience for classical musicians, to be a classical musician myself, to be on the outside of a musical tradition; to watch and listen again with child-like ears and eyes.
A particular favourite was a piece written for solo Zither (‘Transracial Marriage’) about a young lady who was forced to marry a political leader. The music forged a touching marriage between tender, gentle sounds with harsh distorted ones, and a trembling vibrato that beautifully described the young girl’s despair, soulfully conveyed by highly acclaimed Danxi Jiang on a gu zhen Zither.
I left the concert hall feeling I had learned more about a culture I knew almost nothing about than I thought possible from a concert. An exotic, vibrant performance of music, immaculately presented, which I feel certain, and certainly hope is just the beginning of many more performances from, and collaborations with the enchanting music of China.
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