Composers in the Spotlight at Shanghai Contemporary Music Festival

by Rudolph  Tang, Interlude

Believe it or not, I find contemporary music utterly irresistible. Day in and day out, I hunt for it wherever press trips take me across China and beyond. In 2024, I attended more new music festivals than any other type of musical event, fully immersing myself in the works of living composers. Their music tells stories that resonate deeply with me, often reflecting experiences I’ve shared or witnessed. That sense of immediacy and relevance is what keeps me endlessly fascinated.

Music by living composers creates a tangible connection between artistic expression and the world I inhabit. This connection often feels more immediate than the distant echoes of classical music from centuries past. I also relish conversations with composers, uncovering the ideas and inspirations behind their works. These exchanges enrich my understanding of contemporary music—a privilege I hold dear.

As the Beijing Modern Music Festival, once the flagship of China’s contemporary music scene, struggled with funding in 2024, the Shanghai Contemporary Music Festival emerged as a potential standard-bearer. Revamped and re branded from the former Shanghai Contemporary Music Week, this week-long festival, held in mid-November 2024, showcased a diverse and compelling program. It featured Western luminaries such as Kaija Saariaho, Henri Dutilleux, and Sofia Gubaidulina, alongside Asian trailblazers like Toru Takemitsu, Xiaogang Ye (葉小剛), and Shande Ding (丁善德).

The festival also highlighted works by its three composers-in-residence: Jiping Zhao (趙季平), Tristan Murail, and Mengdong Xu (徐孟東). Orchestral works from these and other leading composers were performed by four exceptional ensembles: the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Shanghai Opera House Orchestra, and the newly founded Wuxi Chinese Orchestra.

These performances took place at the Shangyin Opera House, affiliated with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (SCM). While the venue’s acoustics, designed for opera, resulted in a dry sound that challenged conductors to convey the intricate nuances of orchestral works, the performances were nonetheless remarkable.

Emerging composers took center stage in a chamber music concert that premiered nine new commissions from faculty members of SCM’s mighty Composition Department. Among these were works by three female composers, a testament to the festival’s commitment to its ongoing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative.

In total, the festival introduced 85 works by 80 composers to live audiences through a rich tapestry of concerts, seminars, lectures, and forums. It has truly become a one-stop destination for anyone with a keen eye and fine-tuned ears for contemporary music.

Here are five of the most arresting pieces from the concerts I attended.

Ye Xiaogang: Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage 

Ye Xiaogang remains China’s most performed living composer—and with good reason. Often overrun with commissions, he’s a figure so in demand that it’s not uncommon for his music to be performed in two different venues on the same evening, with him expected to appear at both.

Ye Xiaogang © Wikipedia

Despite his prominence and political influence, Ye’s music speaks entirely for itself. Rich in texture and profound in its storytelling, his compositions encapsulate the timeless depth of Chinese intellectualism. For instance, Songs of the Earth offers a contemporary lens on the same Tang poetry that inspired Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, blending tradition with modern sensibilities.

If Songs of the Earth stands as Ye’s crown jewel in the lieder genre, Du Fu’s Thatched Cottage is undoubtedly his magnum opus. In this work, Ye transforms Du Fu’s austere and unyielding poetry into music that is equally forceful and resolute, delivering a powerful statement of endurance and spirit.

Zhou Xianglin (周湘林): Da Jia Ye (Build a Family Fortune) for Tujia Percussions and Orchestra 

When it comes to blending Chinese ethnic musical elements with a symphony orchestra, Zhou Xianglin stands as a trusted master. Known for composing concertos for traditional Chinese instruments like the ruan, erhu, and various percussion ensembles, Zhou skillfully harnesses the full power of orchestral richness while preserving the authenticity and spirit of ethnic music. His works often breathe new life into folklore popular among China’s minorities, adding an extra layer of sophistication to an already vibrant instrumental landscape.

Zhou Xianglin © en.riversawards.cn

Da Jia Ye, inspired by the celebratory percussion music of the Tujia ethnic group, showcases Zhou’s vision of East-meets-West. Drawing on the rhythmic power of traditional gongs, tam-tams, and small cymbals, the piece weaves these ethnic sounds into the fabric of a modern orchestra. The composition builds gradually, with a deliberate orchestral escalation that culminates in a breathtaking, celebratory coda, a tribute to masculine strength and communal festivity.

Chen Musheng (陳牧聲): La Mémoire, Cello Concerto 

In 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-sen led the revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty, ending centuries of imperial rule and sending the Last Emperor into exile (immortalised in the Academy Award-winning film The Last Emperor). This revolution paved the way for the Republic of China, laying the groundwork for modern China’s political evolution. The momentous 1911 Revolution became the inspiration for Chen Musheng’s first cello concerto, composed in 2011 and dedicated to the centennial of this historic uprising—the first of many revolutions that shaped China’s trajectory.

Chen Musheng © musinfo.ch

The concerto’s current iteration, retitled La Mémoire, is based on Chen’s 2013 revision, reflecting the composer’s years studying music in France. By shedding its original title, the five-movement work transcends its commemorative roots to become a deeply personal exploration, intertwining Chen’s life journey with the struggles and triumphs of revolutionary pioneers.

The first movement, somber and tender, takes the form of a requiem. It offers a rare moment of introspection, standing apart from much of contemporary Chinese composition. In La Mémoire, Chen weaves a narrative that is both personal and historical, creating a poignant homage to memory, sacrifice, and transformation.

Gubaidulina: Introitus 

Referring to the introductory chant of the Mass in the Roman Catholic liturgy, Gubaidulina’s Introitus finally received its long-overdue Chinese premiere nearly half a century after its debut in 1978 during the composer’s creative zenith. The Shanghai audience was fortunate to witness this extraordinary performance, with Alice Di Piazza – an undisputed piano concerto queen- delivering the solo with unmatched grace and intensity.

Sofia Gubaidulina

It was nothing short of a miracle that this deeply spiritual piece imbued with a profound sense of piety and benevolence, found its way to the stage in mainland China. The performance marked not just a milestone in musical programming but also a rare moment of artistic reverence.

Tritan Murail: Le Partage des Eaux

Tristan Murail © wihuriprizes.fi

It would only be fitting to call Tristan Murail a titan of spectral music, or perhaps even its very personification, as one of its co-founders. His masterpiece, Le Partage des Eaux, received its much-anticipated Chinese premiere during the festival, offering the captivated audience a taste of the extraordinary complexity and depth that defines this genre.

Flying Woes – What Musicians Need to Know I

by Janet Horvath, Interlude

Cello en route

Smashed guitars, lost double basses, confiscated Stradivarius’, cancelled tickets and boarding refusals—what is a musician to do?

Recently a guitarist had his custom-built instrument safely stowed in the overhead bin on a flight to Nice. The stewardesses approached him in a funk. Despite his explanations as to why the guitar needed to be there, the cabin crew refused to listen and took the instrument away from him. Inevitably it arrived on the luggage belt in Nice smashed to pieces.

Longtime concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Andrés Cárdenes had a rude experience recently. “Just when I start thinking the airlines understand the law regarding violins as carry-on, the B35 gate agent in Pittsburgh tells me I can’t carry it on, nor would it fit. I immediately argued, whereupon she began laughing at me. Fortunately, I carry a copy of the law in my case and showed her. She then proceeded to ignore me as I tried to enter my frequent flier number—ignorant and disrespectfully rude. Nice job description, American Airlines.”

Another colleague recently flew Ryanair, Cologne to Madrid. He boarded. The crew immediately told him he couldn’t store the violin in the overhead compartment due to security reasons. (That’s a good one!) After having shown them that he actually paid an extra 50 EUROs to have the violin in the cabin, they claimed that he had to have an extra seat. After much discussion, they finally gave him two seats, the violin held by a mandatory seat belt. Indeed I suppose this would be more ‘secure’ than in the bin above. Principal cello of the Cleveland Orchestra Mark Kosower got the seatbelt treatment. Note the elaborate harness on his most recent flight—a very safe cello on Air Canada. 

Andreas’ violin on board

Of course Air Canada’s policies have created havoc among musicians with their incomprehensible rules. Recently, cellist Andrea Stewart, purchased two seats for herself and her cello paying the required additional surcharge to reserve the window seat for the cello. When she arrived at the airport though, she was told that since she had neglected to inform the airline that an instrument would occupy the second seat, she would not be allowed to board the aircraft. The problem, according to Air Canada, was that advanced warning is required so that the above-mentioned harness could be loaded onto the plane to secure the cello. In other instances Air Canada has refused to allow the purchase of tickets for cellos and last year they banned violas. Since then this policy has been reversed due to media pressure.

But their language still leaves a musician in a quandary:
‘Due to passenger loads, aircraft limitations and/or storage space available, we cannot guarantee that a musical instrument can be accommodated on board. It may need to be checked at the gate and transported as checked baggage. For this reason, musical instruments must always be properly packaged in a rigid and/or hard shell container specifically designed for shipping such items.

Piano on plane

Some airlines allow a lovely first class seat for the cello. All we need now is a lounge piano onboard, for those requests to ‘play a tune.’

Meanwhile, Robert Black, a member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, who perform all over the world, somewhat confidently loaded his double bass onto a flight from Fortaleza, Brazil, to New York on TAM the largest airline in Brazil. When he arrived there was no sign of the bass! Days later the airline still had no idea where the bass was. At his wits end Black posted several photos and the following on social media:

“The bass is one of Patrick Charton’s B-21 models he made for me in 2009 (No. 13). It is a very unique and distinctive instrument. There are only about thirty of these instruments in the world. It easily stands out and cannot be confused for any other bass. There is a unique dedication inscribed inside.”

Amazingly enough, due to the Facebook photos, a colleague noticed the bass sitting in a locked office at the international baggage claim in Toronto, Canada. Yes Canada—from Brazil. He took a photo of it and sent the photo to Black who forwarded it to TAM airlines. No mea culpa from the airlines for several more days until finally the bass was shipped directly to the artist’s home in Harford, Connecticut via Federal Express from Toronto, undamaged.

On a routine trip home from Tokyo to Germany Japanese violinist Yuzuko Horigome’s Guarneri violin was seized at the Frankfurt airport. Apparently she had not shown the proper documents nor had she declared her $1.2 million violin. It would be held until she paid the fine of 190,000 euros ($238,400) in import duties. The violin was eventually returned and Horigome was spared the fine. But what agony! 

In another instance Yuki Manuela Janke was returning home to Germany after giving a performance in Tokyo, when customs officers at the Frankfurt airport confiscated her 1741 Stradivarius violin worth $7.6m claiming Janke might plan to sell it. If she wanted it back she’d have to pay $1.5m customs duty. The instrument known as ‘The Muntz’ violin had been leased to Janke since 2007 and the owners, the Japan-based Nippon Foundation, indicated that Janke had documentation, including her loan contract with the foundation, photographs of the violin, and other papers.

The lesson here is that one cannot be too careful! Carry the papers for your instrument and check each airline’s policy carefully. Print these policies. If you can, talk to a supervisor beforehand and get their name. (The U.S. Policy is downloadable below.) Arrive early to every flight. If the worst does happen and you must check your instrument, loosen the strings, and stuff the case with clothing so the instrument is padded and tightly held. Insist on claiming it at the tarmac rather than allowing it to descend on the conveyor belts. Put fragile and “this side up” stickers all over the best hard case that you can afford. Consider shipping via ground. Here also are links to the how to’s of shipping.

Stay tuned for the agony of ivory.

Variations on the Goldberg I

by Maureen Buja, Interlude

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) published his well-known Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, in 1741, in the 4th part of his Clavier-Übung (collection of keyboard music). Its creation story, as told by Bach’s biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749–1818), wrote that Count Hermann Karl von Keyserling, president of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and Russian ambassador to the court of Saxony in Dresden, had commissioned the work in 1738 for performance by his protégé, the young harpsichordist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727–1756), to amuse him during his nights of insomnia.

Herman Karl von Keyserlingk

Count Keyserlingk discovered the extremely talented Goldberg when the boy was only age 10 and sponsored him to study with both Johann Sebastian Bach and his oldest son, Wilhelm Friedmann. According to Forkel, writing in 1802, ‘Count Keyserlingk was often ill and suffered from nights of insomnia. During such periods, Goldberg, who lived in his house, had to spend the nights in the next room to play for him. Once the Count told Bach that he would like for his Goldberg some harpsichord pieces of such a light and cheerful character that he, Keyserlingk, could be entertained a little during his sleepless nights. Bach thought that he could best fulfil this wish by writing variations…. The Count later called them only “his” variations. He could never get enough of them, and for a long time, whenever sleepless nights came, he always repeated: “Dear Goldberg, play me one of my variations”.’

Bach composed the work with the idea of Goldberg as the performer, but rumours to the contrary aside did not dedicate the work to either Goldberg or Keyserlingk. The Goldberg Variations takes its name from Goldberg as its first performer.

Goldberg was a talented performer from an early age, and after his study with W.F. and J.S. Bach, his own compositions showed their influence. As the young Goldberg took up the new galant style, his compositions also anticipated works by J.S.’s son, C.P.E. Bach. Goldberg died at the age of 29 of tuberculosis and was declared to be a great loss to the Dresden court. Being in close proximity to his teacher, J.S. Bach, who had been appointed ‘Royal Court Composer’ to the Dresden Court in 1736, Goldberg disparaged his own compositions, often tearing them up, but current reassessment of works such as his harpsichord concertos has done much to show him as an outstanding composer, albeit one who died too young.

The Goldberg Variations, as published in the Clavier-Übung IV, noted the quality of the work: ‘Keyboard exercise, consisting of an ARIA with diverse variations for harpsichord with two manuals. Composed for connoisseurs, for the refreshment of their spirits…’.

J.S. Bach: Clavier-Übung IV, 1741, title page

As described on the title page, the work is a variation set, beginning with an original aria composed by Bach and followed by 30 variations. The aria first appears in 1725 in the Clavierbüchlein copied by Bach’s second wife, Anna Magdalena, and opens with a chaconne bass in its first 8 bars. 

The variations that follow ‘are derived from the harmonic structure and the bass line of the aria and are grouped in threes, every third variation a canon at a higher numerical interval, with the final variation a quodlibet, a hotch-potch seemingly remote from the original aria, which follows in conclusion’.

When heard on harpsichord, the work has a slightly different feel than the more common modern piano recordings. The softness of the piano is replaced by the more brittle sound of the plucked harpsichord, which may explain why Goldberg was described as playing it from a room separate from that holding the insomniac Count. 

We will be looking at the other versions of this work, i.e., the Goldberg in the hands and sounds of other instruments. As a teaser for what will be coming next, here’s the first variation done not by a keyboard instrument but by a vocal group:

SLIXS – “Quer Bach” – Goldberg Variationen, BWV 988, Variation Nr. 1 

This performance is by the German group SLIXS, who describe themselves as an ‘a cappella band’, and who bring all sorts of modern styles to our Baroque familiar.