GANG; HE; TCHAIKOVSKY - BUTTERFLY LOVERS CONCERTO; VIO
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Gil Shaham's love affair with the 'Butterfly Lovers' Concerto extends back over fifteen years, and it is only now that the opportunity has arisen to document...
Gil Shaham's love affair with the 'Butterfly Lovers' Concerto extends
back over fifteen years, and it is only now that the opportunity has
arisen to document this rewarding work to disc. Gil is an enthusiastic
exponent of this concerto, having performed it in concert in the United
States, Europe and Asia.
It is a work with which Gil has a very strong musical affinity and in an
interview with Gramophone Magazine in 2002 said "I think the writing
is brilliant and violinistic". The work imitates the sound of various
Chinese traditional instruments, in particular the inflexions and sliding
pitches used by an erhu (two-string fiddle). "The erhu has no
fingerboard so the slide feels very different. Also, on the erhu one
cannot lift the bow as on a violin so articulations are different." Over the
past 150 years Chinese violin-playing developed its own style and
sound, and Gil was able to learn from various violinists, erhu-ists and
teachers. "A whole world opened up to me. It was amazing to discover
this concerto, the beautiful ancient legend on which it is based, a tiny
bit of Chinese musical culture and even aspects of violin playing I had
not known before."
The unprecedented success of the 'Butterfly Lovers' concerto began
immediately after its premiere in 1959. The ensuing Cultural Revolution
allowed the work after having first banned it, with the two composers
Chen and He serving prison terms. Its highly programmatic content -
the centuries old story of a young heroine in feudal times - is based on
one of the most famous folk-tales of the Chinese Operas. In many ways
it is a symphonic translation of this operatic tradition. Recent
dramatizations of the story in the forms of novels, feature films, and
even animated television series have served to enhance the concerto's
following. Today it enjoys unparalleled popularity in China and more
and more in the West as well. As one of the world's leading virtuosos, Gil
Shaham is the first to have added the work to his concert repertoire. He
says that he enjoys the advantage of having no "cultural or political
baggage", and feels able to interpret this work for the sheer joy that the
music offers.
Reviews
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East Meets West (Nov 8, 2007)
Reviewer:
Emma Choi
The Butterfly Lovers is a unique violin concerto that's fascinating on a number of levels, not least for its dramatic back-story. It was co-written by Shanghai Conservatory of Music students Gang Chen and Zhanhao He in 1958, premiered to great acclaim the following year, then declared “decadent” five years later during the repressive era of China’s Cultural Revolution, with...
The Butterfly Lovers is a unique violin concerto that's fascinating on a number of levels, not least for its dramatic back-story. It was co-written by Shanghai Conservatory of Music students Gang Chen and Zhanhao He in 1958, premiered to great acclaim the following year, then declared “decadent” five years later during the repressive era of China’s Cultural Revolution, with both composers both sent packing off to prison. When the country’s cultural commissars adopted a less-restrictive atmosphere in the late 1970s, the work reappeared and quickly became the one of China’s most popular works, both at home and abroad.
Listening to the music today, one can be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about. There’s nothing overtly radical or avant-garde about this music, and The Butterfly Lovers’ creators can hardly be compared to such revolutionary composers as Cage or Ligeti. But back in the late 1950s, anything Western was looked upon with suspicion in communist countries such as China. Chen and He’s “crime” was to attempt a fusion of Western instrumentation and tonalities with traditional Chinese melodies. The latter, which often sound harsh and discordant to Western listeners, are rendered here in utterly accessible fashion. This is my favorite version of this famous concerto, thanks largely to the sublime artistry of Gil Shaham, who evokes the sound of various Chinese stringed instruments on his violin while conveying the music’s lush tonalities and sweeping lyricism.
The concerto, based on an ancient Chinese legend about ill-starred lovers, is comprised of seven movements that flow together like a mountain stream. Shaham’s violin is the dominant instrumental voice throughout. He conjures a tone that is sweet and emotionally charged, but never cloying. The Singapore Symphony Orchestra, in particular the cellist, flautist and harpist, provides admirable support. The movements alternate between languid explorations of the main love theme, with lots of shimmering solo passages for violin and cello; and uptempo orchestral sections fairly bursting with buoyant exuberance. The melodies are gorgeous and engaging, the harmonics full of color and movement, but what really lifts the music for me are the subtle tonal accents from the harp and various wind instruments. These give the concerto additional texture and help convey the music’s somewhat mystical atmosphere.
Chen and He don’t explore a particularly wide range of emotions, and the overall mood of the concerto is basically optimistic. They tend to paint with broad emotional colors—often evoking the spirit of Tchaikovsky—and are more interested in creating a moving musical experience rather than showing off their compositional chops. But when the music is this beautiful and is played with such precision and verve by an artist like Shaham, that’s no bad thing.
The other piece on this disc is Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, which, like The Butterfly Lovers, met with early rejection before eventually achieving widespread acclaim. While also grounded in the Romantic tradition, Tchaikovsky’s concerto is a much more technically demanding beast, and Shaham again delivers a bravura performance. He effortlessly conveys the passionate thrust of the uptempo first and third movements, as well as the sensuous, bittersweet drama of the slower second movement. The orchestra plays a supportive but nonetheless expressive role, with the strings and woodwinds laying down a moody atmospheric foundation over which Shaham’s violin soars with insolent grandeur. All in all, a triumphant reading of one of Tchaikovsky’s signature compositions, and a brilliant complement to the Chen-He concerto. Quite an auspicious beginning for Shaham’s Canary Classics music label. May he continue to fly high.
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not the same old thing (Nov 4, 2007)
Reviewer:
Fred
The Butterfly Lovers is a piece which has been floating around the edges of the repertoire for many years for many years, but I believe is the first time it’s been taken on by a violinist of Gil Shaham’s stature. Jointly composed in 1959 by Gang Chen and Zhanhao He, both in their twenties at the time, the concerto presents many Chinese folk or folk-like melodies with Western-style...
The Butterfly Lovers is a piece which has been floating around the edges of the repertoire for many years for many years, but I believe is the first time it’s been taken on by a violinist of Gil Shaham’s stature. Jointly composed in 1959 by Gang Chen and Zhanhao He, both in their twenties at the time, the concerto presents many Chinese folk or folk-like melodies with Western-style orchestration, a practice espoused by Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” (later disparaged by the cultural revolution). It’s a lush beautiful piece, but often little else. There are some passages which resemble Aaron Copland in their orchestration and pentatonic melodies, but lack that composer’s gift for motific development or rhythmic drive. The Butterfly Lovers has a program based on an ancient Chinese tale about a young woman who disguises herself as a man in order to receive an education. She falls in love with another student against her father’s plans for an arranged marriage. Transfigurative love-death follows. The violin part, which represents the woman, has several chances to interact solo instruments, all well played by the principles of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. It’s a pleasant but not challenging piece, well played and recorded. The other work is the granddaddy of romantic violin concertos, the Tchaikovsky. It receives a fine, if not significant, performance here. Nothing wrong with it, but there are many preferable performances.
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