Debra Li
TEN minutes of thunderous applause from several hundred audience members almost blew the roof off the concert hall at the Shenzhen Grand Theater on Friday night.
The loud cheers were for Christian Ehwald and his team, as well as guest musician Chen Sa, who had just performed Mozart’s “Piano Concerto in C Major” and Mahler’s “Symphony No. 5” on the opening night of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra’s (SSO) 2008 spring/summer season
Ehwald, professor of conducting at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler Berlin, was performing his first concert as general director of the SSO.
Chen Sa, a graduate of Shenzhen Arts School and pupil of well-known piano teacher Dan Zhaoyi, was right at home in the fantasy element of Mozart’s music.
Chen, 29, studied under Arie Vardi for years at Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Hannover. The former piano prodigy has obviously matured and found her own style, for her performance was thoroughly engaging.
Chen’s choice of “Piano Concerto in C Major” was a risky one. Being such a well-known concerto, her performance was bound to be compared with others.
The first movement started strongly and was a nuanced reading, a passionate view with rhetorical pauses and agogic tempo changes in the best Mozart mold.
Sometimes momentum was sacrificed in favor of fantasy, a quality that extended into the lyrical second movement Andante, whose highlight was the beautiful singing tone of Chen’s playing. The last movement Allegotto was very refined and well-behaved Mozart, rich, melodious, and adept.
Also, the piano superbly combined with the orchestral accompaniment. Lyrical and articulate, Chen took the concerto at a natural pace and allowed it to breathe.
To the joy of the passionate fans, Chen gave an encore of Chopin’s Rondo, her signature work. Back in 2000, she won the Best Polonaise Performance Award as well as the fourth prize at the 14th International Chopin Piano Competition by playing the works of Chopin.
The latter half of the concert featured Mahler’s “Symphony No. 5,” a comparatively unfamiliar and difficult piece of work. In this piece was absolute music, propelled by a concentration on strict, though innovative, form.
Part one, consisting of two movements, was funereal, turbulent, anguished. Part three, the fourth and fifth movements, was an emergence into light - through the Adagietto to the finale’s unbuttoned joviality. The third movement stood alone, a vast celebration of the composer’s land and its offspring.
Led by Ehwald, the SSO gave an impressive performance.
Until the end of July, the orchestra will present 16 more concerts, each in the form of concerto plus symphony. The programs will include “Schuman Concert No.3,” “Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5,” “Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2,” “Shostakovich Violin Concerto No.1,” “Shostakovich Symphony No.5” as well as the works of Dvorak, Mozart, Brahms and Saint-Saens.
“It’s true that the guest performers for this season will mostly be young musicians from China who are studying abroad,” Ehwald told a news briefing Friday afternoon.
“But I’ve been working on the schedule and program for the next season, when I’ll have a bigger share in the business and invite more established masters to collaborate with SSO,” he promised.
On Ehwald’s wish list are violinists from the Berlin Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the conductor disclosed.
With the Bank of Communications donating 3 million yuan (US$400,000) between now and 2010, the SSO has priced its tickets at between 50 and 180 yuan per person.
· 8 p.m., March 14, Friday
Schuman Piano Concerto
Schuman Concert No.3
Conductor/C·Ehwald
Pianist/Yuan Fang
·8 p.m., March 21, Friday
Tchaikovsky Symphony No.5
Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No.2
Conductor/C·Ehwald
Pianist/Xue Yingjia
· 8 p.m., March 29, Saturday
Concert of the Poland Singing Competition winners
· 8 p.m., April 4, Friday
Mozart Piano Concerto No.20
Respighi Fontane di Roma
Respighi Pines of Rome
Conductor/Lin Tao
Piano/Tai Yang
·8 p.m., April 18, Friday
Ma mere I’Oye
Violin Concerto Tzigane
La Valse
Daphnis et Chloe No.2
Conductor/Yang Yang
Violinist/Zuo Jun
· 8 p.m., April 25, Friday 8:00pm
Kongole Violin Concerto
Rachmaninov Symphony Dances
Conductor/Zhang Guoyong
Violinist/Wang Zhijiong
·8 p.m., May 16, Friday
Mozart Piano Concerto KV414
Mozart Symphonie “Prague”
Conductor/Bonatta
Pianist/Bonatta
· 8 p.m., May 23, Friday
Chopin Piano Concerto in E Minor
Tchaikovski Symphony No.5
Conductor/Jerzy Kosek
· 8 p.m., May 30, Friday
Saint-Saens Carnaval des Animaux
Dvorak Serenade
Mozart Symphony No.39 I
Beethoven Symphony No.2 I
Conductor/Lin Daye
