UMS Concert Program, November 7, 2017 - China NCPA Orchestra

China NCPA Orchestra LŸ Jia Conductor Wu Man / Pipa Tuesday Evening, November 7, 2017 at 7:30 Hill Auditorium Ann Arbor 18th Performance of the 139th Annual Season
139th Annual Choral Union Series Traditions & Crosscurrents This eveningÕs performance is supported by the Ilene Forsyth Choral Union Endowment Fund, which supports an annual UMS Choral Union performance in perpetuity. Media partnership provided by WGTE 91.3 FM. The Steinway piano used in this eveningÕs performance is made possible by William and Mary Palmer. Special thanks to Tom Thompson of Tom Thompson Flowers, Ann Arbor, for his generous contribution of lobby floral art for this eveningÕs performance. The China NCPA Orchestra appears by arrangement with Askonas Holt. In consideration of the artists and the audience, please refrain from the use of electronic devices during the performance. The photography, sound recording, or videotaping of this performance is prohibited. PROGRAM Qigang Chen Luan Tan Lou Harrison Concerto for Pipa and String Orchestra Allegro Bits & Pieces: Troika Ñ Three Sharing Ñ Wind and Plum Ñ Neapolitan Threnody for Richard Locke Estampie Wu Man Intermission Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 4 in e minor, Op. 98 Allegro non troppo Andante moderato Allegro giocoso Allegro energico e passionato LUAN TAN (2014Ð15) Qigang Chen Born August 28, 1951 in Shanghai, China UMS premiere: This piece has never been performed on a UMS concert. Snapshots of HistoryÉIn 2015: á The World Health Organization declares that rubella has been eradicated from the Americas á Ireland legalizes same-sex marriage by popular vote á FIFA President Sepp Blatter resigns amidst an FBI-led corruption investigation Luan Tan was a musical style in Chinese drama that originated in the 1600s, around the time of the dynastic succession from Ming to Qing. Compared with the established traditions of Kun opera (Kunqu) at the time, the music in the Luan Tan style was remarkably bolder, blunter, and tended to be more virtuosic. Various musical traditions now well-known to the Chinese audience, such as Qin Qiang, Hebei Bangzi, Henan Bangzi, or even earliest forms of the now-prominent Peking opera, could all be categorized under the Luan Tan style. If, for Chinese connoisseurs, Kunqu opera symbolizes elegance and refinement, then Luan Tan would stylistically be its opposite, very much rooted in folk traditions. Somehow, my music has frequently been described as Òmelancholic,Ó Òsentimental,Ó and ÒrefinedÓ over the years. Therefore, I wanted to set a challenge for myself this time, to see if I might enjoy producing something that could be quite a departure from my usual musical territory. In this way, the process of composing Luan Tan was almost a battle with myself. Elements that usually appear in my works, such as long melismatic lines, attractive melodic themes, or imposing harmonies are almost completely absent, replaced by ceaseless rhythmic pattern, leaps of tiny motifs, and gradually accumulated force through repetitions. Since the stylistic inspiration was from the traditional form of Luan Tan, timbres and characters from traditional Chinese musical drama make an inevitable appearance in the work, for instance, among other things, in the shape of the important role played by the temple block, with the almost cacophonous counterpoint of the Chinese cymbals. I started to work on the piece in 2010, but the composing process was interrupted a number of times by major events that have occurred in my personal life in the intervening years, including the passing of my son Yuli, after which I could not write any music for 12 months. The double bar was finally set on paper in January 2015, and I would hereby like to thank the workÕs joint commissioners, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, for their patience and understanding. Program note by Qigang Chen. CONCERTO FOR PIPA AND STRING ORCHESTRA (1997) Lou Harrison Born May 14, 1917 in Portland, Oregon Died February 2, 2003 in Lafayette, Indiana UMS premiere: This piece has never been performed on a UMS concert. Snapshots of HistoryÉIn 1997: á Lloyd CarrÕs Michigan Wolverines win the national championship title á Steve Jobs returns to Apple Computer as CEO á Diana, Princess of Wales, is killed in a car accident in Paris Like Charles Ives, Henry Cowell, and John Cage, with all of whom he was associated, Lou Harrison was what one often calls an ÒAmerican maverick.Ó There is no question that Harrison, who was born 100 years ago, always marched to his own drummer, and never courted success but rather waited until success came to him Ñ which it eventually did, in a big way. The composerÕs later years brought one major commission after another, and Harrison died, at age 85, en route to a four-day festival devoted to his music at Ohio State University. One of these late commissions was the Concerto for Pipa and String Orchestra, written for the Chinese virtuoso Wu Man, who premiered it in Berkeley, California during HarrisonÕs 80th birthday year. It was HarrisonÕs last completed work for orchestra, and also the last of many compositions in which he brought together Eastern and Western instruments. Harrison had been immersed in Asian art and music since his childhood on the West coast, and the synthesis of Asian and European traditions was a lifelong artistic goal. The pipa, or four-string pear-shaped lute, has been documented in China for more than 2,000 years. It is an extremely versatile instrument that can play lyrical melodies, rapid tremolos (repeated notes), sonorous bass pitches, and even produce special percussive effects. All of these qualities are on display in HarrisonÕs concerto, but the composer combines Chinese pentatonicism (the black keys of the piano) with Western diatonicism (white keys) and chromaticism (all keys) in ways that are apt to confuse the listener who wonders whether this is Chinese or Western music. Wu Man put it best when she simply said: ÒIt is Lou Harrison music.Ó The concerto is in four movements, the second of which breaks down to four separate sections. In the first movement, the Western strings take over some of the idiomatic pipa figures, producing a completely new sound quality. The Òmini-suiteÓ that makes up the concertoÕs second movement takes the pipa on a journey around the world, as it were. The individual sections evoke, in turn, a Russian balalaika (ÒTroikaÓ), the avant-garde percussion music Harrison and Cage used to write when they were young (ÒThree Sharing,Ó for a trio of pipa, cello, and double bass), China itself (ÒWind and PlumÓ), and Naples (ÒNeapolitan,Ó with suggestions of a mandolin). This is followed by an intensely emotional and melodious slow movement Ñ a ÒThrenodyÓ for Richard Locke, a well-known AIDS activist in San Francisco who died of the disease in 1996. Harrison, who had also made an in-depth study of Western medieval music, gave his last movement the title ÒEstampie,Ó after the earliest European dance form to survive in written form. Estampies are characterized by the constant presence of their defining rhythmic figure, and that is the force that drives HarrisonÕs music forward, with only a brief interruption for a meditative cadenza in a slower tempo. Ancient China meets medieval France, and the result, once again, is pure ÒLou Harrison music.Ó Program note by Peter Laki. SYMPHONY NO. 4 IN E MINOR, OP. 98 (1885) Johannes Brahms Born May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany Died April 3, 1897 in Vienna UMS premiere: Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frederick Stock; May 1912 in University Hall. Snapshots of HistoryÉIn 1885: á Grover Cleveland assumes the Presidency of the United States á Mark Twain publishes Huckleberry Finn á Louis Pasteur tests his vaccine for rabies The day before the first performance of BrahmsÕs Fourth Symphony, on October 24, 1885, the 21-year-old assistant conductor of the Meiningen Orchestra, which was about to play the premiere, wrote a letter to his father, also a musician: Beyond all question a gigantic work, with a grandeur in its conception and invention, genius in its treatment of forms, periodic structure, of outstanding vigor and strength, new and original and yet authentic Brahms from A to Z, in a word it enriches our music Ñ itÕs hard to put into words all the magnificent things this work contains, you can only listen to it over and over again with reverence and admiration. The young man, whose name, by the way, was Richard Strauss, seemed to be more receptive to the beauties of the new work than were some of BrahmsÕs own closest friends, who were not quite sure what to make of it. Even Eduard Hanslick, BrahmsÕs greatest champion among music critics, was somewhat guarded this time while trying to sound polite: ÒThe work will not yield its rich treasures, it will not reveal its chaste beauty at first hearing: its charms are not democratic in nature.Ó  Yet repeated hearings did eventually lead to enthusiastic acceptance. Only a decade later, when Hans Richter, who had conducted the first Viennese performance, led the work again in 1897, critics as well as listeners loved the work: each movement was greeted with a storm of applause. Brahms, already seriously ill, was in attendance, and at the end, the audience seemed absolutely to refuse to let him go. According to an eyewitness, Brahms stood there in the balcony, tears running down his cheeks, and Òthrough the audience there was a feeling as of a stifled sob, for each knew that they were saying farewell.Ó The composer passed away only a few weeks later. In fact, Brahms had said farewell to symphony writing 12 years earlier, since, after finishing the Fourth, he never wrote another symphony. (He did write one more work for orchestra: the Double Concerto in a minor for violin and cello.) In the Fourth, he had achieved a perfect synthesis of styles, where old church modes and Baroque variation techniques formed an indissoluble whole with Classical sonata form and Romantic expressivity. Every structural detail was organized into a miracle of coherence and economy. The symphony was clearly intended as a summation and BrahmsÕs final word in the genre. After stating the opening melody, which is essentially a series of falling thirds, Brahms contrasts it with a second theme that is more rhythmical in character. These two ideas dominate the entire movement. The development section enlarges upon the contrasts of the exposition: the rhythmical idea becomes passionately dramatic, while the lyrical melody turns into a lament. At the beginning of the recapitulation, Brahms elongates the first few notes and adds a few special harmonies, infusing the music with a quality of deep mystery that is surely one of the Seven Wonders of Western music. The recapitulation then resumes its normal course, but there is a coda in which the lyrical first theme acquires the energy and dynamism of the second. Therefore, the passionate outburst that ends the movement seems to be a synthesis of everything that has gone before. The second movement, like the first, is built upon the contrast between primarily melodic and primarily rhythmical motifs. It seems to evoke a distant world of fairytales where we move between different imaginary worlds by way of frequent, subtle changes of key. The third movement is the only real scherzo in all of BrahmsÕs symphonies (the third movements of the other three symphonies are better described as lyrical intermezzos.) It is also the only one of his symphony movements to use a triangle. Two other instruments, not heard in the first two movements, also join the orchestra here: the piccolo and the contrabassoon. The heart-piece of the symphony is its magnificent and unique finale, written in the Baroque variation form variously known as chaconne or passacaglia.* It seems that the idea of writing a symphony movement in this form predated the actual composition by years. In his memoirs, composer and choir director Siegfried Ochs, a member of BrahmsÕs circle of friends, recalled a meeting that must have taken place in January 1882, two years before Brahms began work on the symphony. As we sat together one day after dining Ñ namely, BŸlow, Brahms, Hermann Wolff, and I Ñ Brahms fell upon Hans von BŸlow with the reproach that he played much too little Bach, moreover was not concerned enough with him and knew next to nothing of, as an example of the best of his creations, the church cantatas. BŸlow defended himself and claimed to know at least seven or eight cantatas well. ÒThat proves that you know none of them, for there are more than 200,Ó said Brahms. In due course of the conversation, he then began to speak of the final movement of a certain cantata, and in order to demonstrate what a work of art this piece was, he went to the piano and played part of it. It was, as I have only now determined, the ciacona that forms the high point and the conclusion of Cantata 150. Brahms at first played only the bass, over which the entire piece is constructedÉThen he performed the chaconne. BŸlow listened with cool admiration and made the objection that the great intensification [Steigerung], which was intellectually inherent in the movement, was scarcely brought out in desired mass by voices. ÒThat has also occurred to me,Ó said Brahms. ÒWhat would you think about a symphony movement written on this theme some time? But it is too clumsy, too straightforward. One must alter it chromatically in some way.Ó I immediately made a note of this conversation, and one should compare the finale of the e-minor symphony with that of the mentioned cantata. We should indeed: the two themes are nearly identical, with the exception of the single chromatic alteration Brahms spoke about after dinner. The first half of BrahmsÕs finale is like a single rising line: first we hear the bass theme alone, then the same theme with a single pedal note added. Next, a delicate counterpoint appears, followed by a more impassioned violin melody, which in turn gives rise to an enormous crescendo involving the entire orchestra. After the climax, there is a gradual decrescendo leading to the three central variations where, as the meter changes from 3/4 to 3/2, the notes of the bass theme begin to move twice as slowly as before. The slower variations include a haunting flute solo, another one with prominent clarinet and oboe parts, and finally a magnificent variation for three trombones, in E Major. This is immediately followed by the recall of the movementÕs beginning, and the energetic Ñ and tragic Ñ ending. Even the falling thirds of the first movementÕs opening theme turn up again, masterfully combined with the passacaglia theme and giving the entire symphony a sense of Classical balance and structural unity.      Program note by Peter Laki. * The Harvard Dictionary of Music defines these two terms as Òtwo closely related forms of Baroque music, each a kind of continuous variation in moderately slow triple meter and with a slow harmonic rhythm, changing generally with the measure.Ó It states that ÒattemptsÉto make a clear distinction between them [have been] futile.Ó J. S. Bach used the terms almost interchangeably; Brahms did not 
use either term explicitly in the Fourth Symphony. ARTISTS China NCPA Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), Beijing. Established in March 2010, the Orchestra performs in more than a dozen opera productions presented by its home venue every year as well as in regular orchestral concerts in its own season. Artists associated with the Orchestra include Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Myung-Whun Chung, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Fabio Luisi, Lang Lang, Stephen Kovacevich, Leo Nucci, and Yuja Wang. Lorin Maazel worked closely with the Orchestra before his passing and praised the musicians for their Òamazing professionalism and great passion in music.Ó The Orchestra has gained critical acclaim for its performances in NCPAÕs opera productions of not only classical repertoire works such as Tosca, Die Fledermaus, Lohengrin, Aida, and Nabucco, but also newly commissioned works like The Chinese Orphan and The Rickshaw Boy. In its own orchestral concert season, it has consistently presented creative and diverse programs. Its performance of the mammoth Ring without Words with its creator, Lorin Maazel, was released on Sony Classics worldwide, the only recording the great maestro ever made with a Chinese orchestra. The Orchestra has also explored contemporary music extensively. It gave the Chinese premieres of works by Toru Takemitsu and Giya Kancheli, and the world premieres of many works by Michael Gordon and Augusta Read Thomas. The NCPA Orchestra has flexed its wings on the international stage, receiving widespread international praise for its performances at the Kissingen Summer Music Festival, the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and concerts in many cities in Germany, as well as in Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Daegu, Abu Dhabi, Taipei, and Macau. During the 2014Ð15 season, the Orchestra undertook its first North American tour, where it performed in seven major cities in the US and Canada, Musical America praised its Òjoyful confidence and youthful strength.Ó Concerto Net described it Òa polished, first rate ensemble.Ó  (conductor) is artistic director of music of the National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), music director and chief conductor of China NCPA Orchestra, and music director and chief conductor of the Macao Orchestra, prior to which he acted as music director of the Verona Opera House in Italy and artistic director of the Santa Cruz De Tenerife Symphony Orchestra in Spain. orchestral concerts and opera performances in Europe and the US. He has worked with such renowned opera houses and symphony orchestras including La Scala, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra dellÕAccademia 
di Santa Cecilia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and Lyon National Orchestra. A highly acclaimed opera conductor, internationally. As the first Asian conductor appointed as music director in an important opera house in Italy, he has been praised by critics as Òa conductor who has a deeper understanding of Italian operas than the Italians themselves do.Ó In 1989, he was awarded both the First Prize and JuryÕs Prize at the Antonio Pedeotti International Conducting Competition in Trento, Italy. In 2007, the Italian President bestowed the ÒPresidentÕs PrizeÓ on him for his exceptional contribution to Italian culture. That same year, the production of La gazza ladra that he conducted at the Rossini Opera Festival, held in Pesaro, the composerÕs hometown, was voted ÒOpera Production of the YearÓ in Europe. Wu Man (pipa) is a Chinese pipa player and composer. Trained in Pudong-style pipa performance at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, she is known for playing in a broad range of musical styles and introducing the pipa and its Chinese heritage into Western genres. She has performed and recorded extensively with Kronos Quartet and Silk Road Ensemble, and has premiered works by Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Terry Riley, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, Jiping Zhao, and Long Zhou. She has recorded and appeared on over 40 albums, five of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards. In 2013, she was named ÒInstrumentalist of the YearÓ by Musical America, becoming the first performer of a non-Western instrument to receive this award. She is the first artist from China to perform at the White House and she also received the United States Artist Fellowship in 2008. Born in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Wu Man is a master of pipa performance who studied Pudong-style under Lin Shicheng, Kuang Yuzhong, Chen Zemin, and Liu Deha. CHINA NCPA ORCHESTRA LŸ Jia / Music Director     Zuohuang Chen / Conductor Laureate      YUAN Ding / Assistant Conductor      LI Zhe / Concertmaster YANG Xiaoyu / Concertmaster First Violin CHEN Shu*** MA Weijia*** ZHAO Jingjing LI Le JIANG Jun LIU Song SUN Qian LEE Chia-Ying MAO Xueyang ZHANG Yanyan ZHANG Chaochen PU Xiaojing Hyun Ji Kim GUO Yingxin     Second Violin LIU Xian* YANG Rui*** FAN Yue*** YUAN Fangfang Aleksandra Denga JI Wenyu WU Meng LIN Boyu TSAI Chiung-Hua LIU Zhaohui LI Wendan GAO Jiayao LI Xingya ZHENG Yan Viola ZHUANG Ran* HAO Xuejia*** HE Jing*** LIU Sha QIU Yini QIN Yu TANG Renzhu CONG Yanyi XU Su ZHANG Yiwen SHANG Yiyu Kangrok Nam Cello LIANG Xiao*** GAO Shenghan*** Kyuri Kim SONG Tao AN Rui YIN Long WANG Yu LI Mengqi WANG Haoyu WANG Danna Rosalind Zhang Double Bass LIU Yimei** KANG Ning*** LIU Xiangquan FAN Yiming ZHOU Yuanlong ZHANG Guangyuan LAI Wenjun WANG Mengxi Flute YIN Yi*** LU Yaoyao LIU Qian CHEN Huan-Hsi Oboe ZHOU Yang** CHANG Chia-Fang*** KOU Yijian     Clarinet Jaime Sanchis* CHEN Sijun*** Min Na Lee*** ZHANG Tianyu Bassoon JI Jingjing* SHI Guangyuan QIU Shihan LIU Atao     Horn LIU Xiaoxin** TAN Chai Suang WANG Zi Danbie KIM L† Ran      Trumpet WANG Yubing** Helene Hautle*** LI Rui HE Kai Trombone LIU Shuang* Jonathan Watkins*** WEI Zhiying YUAN Boxuan Tuba     Radek JISA***     Timpani LIU Gang* Percussion LIU Heng** MA Yuan SU Shu Chulmin Lee CHEN Wanning     Harp ZHANG Xiaoyin     Keyboard SUI Borui     *Principal   **Acting Principal   ***Associate Principal CHEN Ge / Chairwoman     REN Xiaolong /Managing Director     ZHANG Lin     / Deputy Managing Director      Performance Management & Administration ZHOU Jing LUO Enyan SUN Yafei LI Xiaogeng YANG Zhe      Artistic Planning & Marketing TANG Ning   TANG Jia WANG Zhen LIU Xun      Stage Management & Production YIN Mudi   DU Fei   MANG Yiqun      Askonas Holt Ltd / International Tour Management Donagh Collins / Chief Executive Sergio Porto Bargiela / Head of Tours & Projects Suzanne Doyle / Senior Project Manager Robert Kearns / Project Administrator China NCPA OrchestraÕs 2017 USA Tour is proudly supported 
by the China National Arts Fund.
International Flights Sponsor: Hainan Airlines UMS ARCHIVES UMS welcomes LŸ Jia and the China NCPA Orchestra as they make their UMS debuts this evening. Wu Man makes her fifth UMS appearance this evening, following her UMS debut in March 2000 at the Michigan Theater in a performance of Forgiveness directed by Chen Shi-Zheng. She most recently appeared in March 2009 at Hill Auditorium with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. TONIGHTÕS VICTOR FOR UMS: Ilene Forsyth Choral Union Endowment Fund Supporter of this eveningÕs performance by the China NCPA Orchestra.   MAY WE ALSO RECOMMEND... 11/12    The Knights 11/17Ð19    New York Philharmonic 12/8    Bach Collegium Japan Tickets available at www.ums.org. ON THE EDUCATION HORIZONÉ 11/12    EXCEL Brunch with The Knights: Crossing Boundaries to 
Compelling Programming     (EXCEL Lab, 1279 Moore Building, 1100 Baits Drive, 11:00 am) 11/18    UMS 101: New York Philharmonic Young PeopleÕs Concert     (Pioneer High School, 601 W. Stadium Boulevard, 12 noon)     Paid registration required; please visit bit.ly/UMSClasses to register. 12/2    Pre-Show Talk: Musical Text Painting in HandelÕs Messiah     (Michigan League Henderson Room, 911 N. University Avenue, 
6:00 pm) Educational events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.