Symphony & Modern Dance "Das Lied von der Erde"

Venue: Xinghai Concert Hall, Symphony Hall
Time: 2007-01-20,21 20:00
Ticket：￥300/250/180/100(50 for student)

Composer: Ye Xiaogang
Performer: Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra
Soprano: Cui Zhenrong
Dance: Guangdong Modern Dance Troupe
Conductor & Choreographers: Cao Chengyuan, Liu Qi, etc

Composer Ye Xiaogang



Soprano Cui Zhenrong

Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra 2006-2007 Music Season
Symphony & Modern Dance "Das Lied von der Erde"

When Symphony Meets Modern Dance is already in its 3rd edition in 2007. It is Guangdong Modern Dance Company's annual collaborated project with the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and also a remarkable feature in the culturescape of Guangzhou.

When the two companies worked for the first time, Willy Tsao, the artistic director of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company had not thought that the project would become an annual event. He made the best of the chance and allowed his unleashed imagination to turn the auditorium into what it had never been before and challenged the audience with a new form of performance. The main stage was given to the Symphony Orchestra while dance happened all over the auditorium, in raised platforms set in the corners and on the balcony, in the isles and among the audiences, who had to direct their focuses along with the dances.Meanwhile, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra presented a feast of music by Stravinsky, Raffel, Kodaly and Shostakovich. They were among the master of masters although their works were not quite well known among the audiences in China. An unknown but exciting move by both companies, the surprisingly enthusiastic reactions of the audiences was most encouraging. The production lived up to its name – Phoenix, a new life taking wing.

Success of Phoenix paved the way for the 2nd edition – Wind-Forest-Fire-Mountain. This time, the dance took the main stage while a raised stage was set on the chorus pit for the orchestra, who seemed to be hanging in mid air viewed from the auditorium. The Wind-Forest-Fire-Mountain was inspired by the four strategies of combat in the Art of War by Sun Tze. It says: Be swift as the wind. Be relaxed as the forest. Attack as fierce as fire. Have the immobility of a mountain. String, wood wind, brass and percussion instruments were highlighted in the repertoire consisting string quartet, oboe solo, percussion ensembles etc.

Wind-Forest-Fire-Mountain was another success and the format of collaboration has won recognition from the audiences, critics and the cultural sectors as well as official departments. The 3rd edition of When Symphony Meets Modern Dance will take place in January 2007 and is called Song of the Earth. This time, they are going to play grandeur. Symphony Song of the Earth by Ye Xiaogang will be featured. In 1907 (a hundred years back), Mahler composed symphony by the same name. It was inspired by poems by Li Bo, Qian Qi, Meng Haoran and Wang Wei reflecting the same greatness of mind and humanistic compassion of the Tang poets and is highly acclaimed classic in the Western music world. It was made up of six parts accompanied by soprano and tenor vocals in sung German. Unfortunately, it is not possible to identify the Tang poems on which the German lyrics were based. Ye re-composed a Chinese version of Song of the Earth but maintained the the structure by Mahler's. He used 7 poems by the same poets and enlivened the ups and downs and human compassions in his musical notes.

Artistic director Willy Tsao and executive artistic director Liu Qi of the Guangdong Modern Dance Company associated Song of the Earth with images of people. In thousands of years, they looked up to heaven and humbly created history with tears and sweat. They inspired the Tang poets who turned their stories into the most beautiful poems to be recited generations after generations. But all these stories and poems actually point towards an ancient Chinese wisdom, i-ching or the Book of Change. Everything on earth changes and i-ching describes the phenomena of eternal change. The first hexagram is changing yang. It symbolizes strength and indicates that positive energy will go on and strong actions will be blessed. The hexagram is made up of six parts:

Changing yang at the bottom means:
　　　　Hidden dragon. Do not act.

Changing yang in the second place means:
　　　　Dragon appears in the field.
　　　　It furthers one to see the great man.

Changing yang in the third place means:
　　　　All day the lord is active.
　　　　At night he remains alert
　　　　There is danger but he comes to no harm

Changing yang in the fourth place means:
　　　　When he leaps, he will land in a pool and come to no harm

Changing yang in the fifth place means:
　　　　The dragon flies in the sky. He should go to see someone big.

Changing yang at the top means:
　　　　Arrogant dragon will have cause to repent.

The six parts of the hexagram matches the six parts of Song of the Earth, which described six different aspects of life. The dances, taking the lines of the i-ching hexagrams, visualize a Chinese way of looking at the world and reflecting on life.

Source:

Editor: Jessie Hwang