The first big-name orchestra and world-renowned conductor to grace Beijing in 2010 is the London Philharmonic Orchestra and its guest conductor, Christoph Eschenbach. Chinese fans of classical music are waiting with bated breath.
In January 2008, as the first Western orchestra to play at the newly open National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA), the London Philharmonic Orchestra gave an unforgettable concert. As for German conductor Eschenbach, he is loved as much for his outstanding musicality as for discovering Chinese keyboard star Lang Lang at the Ravinia Festival in the summer of 1999.
This time, the 69-year-old conductor has two programs for Beijing fans. Tonight, at the NCPA, it will be an all-Dvorak program, including Carnival Overture, Symphony No 8 in G major and Symphony No 9 in E minor.
“I love Dvorak very much. He is a genius of melodies and a typical Bohemian musician. His music features rich Bohemian passion,” the conductor told China Daily over telephone last week.
Tomorrow’s concert will offer Tchaikovsky’s Fantasy Overture to Romeo and Juliet and Francesca de Rimini, Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite, and Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite, to fit the holiday mood.
Like many classical maestros, Eschenbach learned the piano before he took up the baton. Now as a sought after conductor, he still plays the keyboard sometimes. Conducting and playing the piano, he says, are two very different things but finds it hard to say which he enjoys more.
“A piano soloist focuses on his own playing while a conductor must listen to all the parts of the orchestra and help them to cooperate well,” Eschenbach says. “To the audience, of course, piano recital and a symphonic concert are also two very different experiences. So after achieving something on the piano, I would like to interpret my understanding of music through an orchestra and deliver it to the audience.”
In 1999, when Eschenbach was artistic director of the Ravinia Festival in the US, he met Lang Lang for the first time in a dramatic way. The meeting was intended to be an audition of no more than 20 minutes, but it turned into a recital, leaving Eschenbach to remark in wonder. “I was fascinated by his talent and still am. He is a complete musician, not only technically gifted, but above all, immensely musical.”
Two days later, Lang Lang took the place of the sick pianist Andre Watts to play with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the festival. His triumphant performance wowed the orchestra and the audience, and made him a star overnight.
“I am always willing to discover and help young talents. It’s my responsibility I think. Lang Lang actually was not the first and will not be the last, either,” says the maestro.
“Nowadays, there are many players with super technique but not many have real gift and natural instinct of music. I know more and more Chinese musical talents are emerging and they are the hope of the new century.”