Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, 30 March 2000

 

Eyes For Latin-America: Asian And Panpacific Composers Series 2

'The Anthems For The New Century'

 

Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall

 

Programme:

Yi Gyu Bong: 'Zeremonie' for Chamber Ensemble (1999)

Diego Luzuriaga: Liturgia for Sinobue and Orchestra

Inagio Baca-Lobera: 'Tierra Incognito'

Chen Yi: Symphony 2 (1993)

 

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ryusuke Numajiri (conductor)

 

On Thursday March 30, 2000 the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra gave a special concert in its Asian and Panpacific composers series, subtitled 'The anthems for the New Century'.

 

The Korean composer Yi Gyu Bong's 'Zeremonie' for chamber ensemble (1999) was a subtle piece lasting about 10 minutes that seemed longer, perhaps due to the fact that the tempo was a bit slower than it should have been. It relied too heavily on standard techniques of the second half of the last century, which now seem rather jaded when they are presented in an avant-garde context. There was plenty of 'scrapings' of things in the percussion and there were 'extended techniques' on the instruments such as breath effects through the clarinet. The fact that the breath effects were rhythmical added a sense of titillation which was almost sensual, but not quite, due to the fact that the performance was over careful. Inside the piano there were isolated notes while there were glissando 'wisps' on the violin. The only sense of climax in the piece came at the end when rapid repeated notes in the clarinet led to rapid repeated notes on an electronic tape. This came as a rather pleasant surprise.

 

Another surprise was to follow with the especially commissioned piece of the evening. If Yi Gyu Bong's piece belonged to the second half of the twentieth century, the Ecuadorean composer Diego Luzuriaga's Liturgia for Sinobue and Orchestra was firmly stuck in the first half and more particularly in the Latin-American tradition. The first movement throbbed along with pulsating figures in the double-basses, percussion and cellos, with the bass drum used for added weight. The solo sinobue ( Kohie Nishikawa) sounded better in its higher register, where it was not covered by the woodwind with which it had a lot of contrapuntal interplay. In the second movement a drummer was heard offstage with a happy ostinato rhythm lasting throughout the movement. As the movement progressed the sinobue was reminiscent of an Irish tin whistle and the violins responded with a melody that was vaguely Irish in it's modality. A new theme in the brass heralded a new section but the ostinato drum continues. A sustained chord ended the movement and the work finished rather unexpectedly with the ostinato drummer working up to a gleeful crescendo.

 

The Mexican composer Inagio Baca-Lobera's 'Tierra Incognito' was aptly titled with the orchestra arranged antiphonally during the interval. Double-basses were on both sides with a piano on the left and a harp on the right. However an aisle down the middle of the orchestra didn't seem necessary as the composer didn't divide the sounds sufficiently. The textural nature of this one-movement piece was effective due to the large forces involved rather than by anything else. The piece emerged with sustained notes and a fairly active percussion section. There were liquid tremolos and a surprise change in texture. There were slow changing pedal notes and the piano had a flurry of activity. The brass announced itself like a tiger in this textural jungle and a slide on the trombones led to a sudden pause. There was a skillful building and relaxing of orchestral tensions but at no stage was it ever truly antiphonal, as one had expected from the arrangement of the orchestra. The piece ended as a slow slide in the trombones led to a brilliantly orchestrated final climax.

 

The final piece on the programme was the Chinese composer Chen Yi's Symphony Number 2 composed in 1993. Although only 18 minutes in length, her work was the most thoroughly composed of the evening and the most substantial. Again it used many standard modern techniques of the 20th century, the texture of the piece being best described as chromatic pantonalism. What made this piece stand out was the beautiful cello solo, about a third of the way into the piece, played with absolute commitment by the first cellist. Carried along by its sheer power, the rest of the orchestra seemed equally committed. The accompanying glissandi on timpani and harp seemed to fit naturally into the texture, not at all contrived or self conscious. A clarinet solo followed with the orchestra fading away 'a niente' (to nothingness) with a pianissimo gong. The piece then built up to a series of shimmering climaxes with clusters on brass and woodwind seeming to enter at just the right moment to end the work on an open-ended question.

 

The Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductor Ryusuke Numajiri are to be commended for presenting such a diverse evening of new orchestral works.

 

© Paul Hayes, 17 June 2000