Harmony for HK handover symphony
Harmony for HK handover symphony
By Justin Jin
HONG KONG (Reuter): A theme song celebrating Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule on July 1 will feature chiming Chinese bells with a wailing cello in an East-meets-West mix-bag.
Very Hong Kong.
Like the territory, which returns to motherland China after 156 years of British colonial culture, the orchestral piece Symphony 1997 (Heaven Earth and Mankind) conforms neither to Chinese nor Western musical traditions.
"I want to take the most challenging aspect of Chinese music and insert it in a Western musical form," 39-year-old composer Tan Dun told reporters on Monday.
The piece is written for 64 ancient Chinese bells, a solo cello, a choir and an orchestra, Tan, who was born in China and lives in New York, said.
About 150 orchestra members, renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, Canto- pop idol Jacky Cheung and 160 children will perform extracts of the piece on July 1 to diplomats in the new convention center, an official of publisher Sony Classical, Winnie Pao, said.
The same lineup will perform a world premiere on July 4 in the Hong Kong Cultural Center, Pao said.
"The piece is very suitable for the handover event because it suits the popular taste, but I don't think a serious classical fan would find it interesting," said Chan Ho Choi, a classical music commentator and editor of the Hong Kong-based magazine Audiotechnique.
The bells used in Hong Kong for the handover ceremonies will not be excavated rusty, ancient gongs, but replicas of Chinese originals made by scientists from different parts of the world, Tan said.
"Visually this is going to be extraordinary because there is a magical element to the bells," said Victoria Finlay, arts editor of the South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong daily.
The three-movement, 13-part work lasts for 50 minutes.
"I've divided the piece into 13 parts because Hong Kong people move so fast they will never wait to hear it to the end," said Tan, who visited Hong Kong several times for research.
The piece, commissioned by the "Association for Celebration of Reunification of Hong Kong with China", opens with a meditative, Chinese-style line sung by the cello.
It rises to a sweeping, upbeat symphonic chorus of chant and bell chime, and occasionally slips back to quiet, ritualistic sounds resembling water dripping from a roof.
"He has tamed his avant-garde style to accommodate the masses with a strong pop beat," Chan said.
The composer said love and harmony inspired him to write the symphony, which has parts named "Heaven", "Jubilation" and "Song of Peace."
Another inspiration came from Hong Kong's Temple Street, a night retreat for hawkers, fortune tellers and Cantonese opera singers, he said.
"That is where the true Hong Kong souls are."
Sony Classical will release the compact disc on July 5.