China in Israel
Every month we go to our subscription concert of the Herzliya Chamber Orchestra, that plays in the new auditorium co-owned by the Herzliya Municipality and the Israel Air Force. It's less than 30 mins drive away in Herzliya. This month they had a special concert on Chinese music.
This was under the auspices of the Chinese Embassy, and the Ambassador Zhao Jun spoke fluently in English. The concert was introduced by Herzliya Mayor German (pronounced with a soft "g" in Hebrew, note that German in Hebrew is "Ashkenaz"). The Israeli Govt. was represented by Minister of Sport, Culture & Science Majadle, who is the first Arab in the Israeli Cabinet. He spoke briefly in Hebrew (with appropriate platitudes) and recognized the presence of about 10 other Ambassadors, including Germany, Mexico, Ecuador, etc.
The guest Conductor was Yi-an Xu, who has trained in the West. He first conducted two Chinese pieces of music followed by Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. The two Chinese pieces were of course westernized for orchestra. The first was a lyrical tone poem called "Reflections of the moon on Erquan," based on an old folk melody but attributed to Hua Yanjun. It was very nice but sounded better when played on the original instruments (we heard a short recording).
The second piece was "The Yellow River" piano concerto, that was much more lively and sounded (too much) like a Hollywood sound track. There was no composer listed for this piece, for although it was first conceived by a Chinese musician returning from study in Moscow, and was written in the style of Rachmaninov, it was subsequently recomposed by a Committee of ten! It was later revised by Madame Mao with a Committee of 6 selected musicians (in other word they recomposed it until she accepted it) in appropriate nationalistic (bombastic) style. In typical Maoist style the final movement is entitled "Defend the Yellow River!" and contains the old national anthem ("The East is Red") that is rarely heard in China these days. The piano soloist Nadia Weintraub was excellent, she trained in Tel Aviv and at Juilliard in NYC, and attacked the music with gusto.
We were surprised to discover that Beethoven was Chinese and was born in a log cabin on Mount Hsu near the Yangtze River (OK, I'm making this up!). Actually it was unclear why they included Beethoven in this "Chinese" program, either it was because they had no more Western-style Chinese music they could play or because it was an opportunity for a Chinese conductor to show that he could produce an acceptable version of a western classic (what could be more classic than Beethoven's 7th?). Needless to say he did an excellent job, and the applause was vociferous.
Why do the Chinese bother with Israel, when the Israeli population is less than the error in determining the Chinese population! Its not purely cultural, there must be a good reason, mainly defense (although they are against sanctions on Iran). Anyway 6 million Jewish Israelis are equivalent to ca. 60 million of any other country in terms of productivity (I hope they think so)!
This was under the auspices of the Chinese Embassy, and the Ambassador Zhao Jun spoke fluently in English. The concert was introduced by Herzliya Mayor German (pronounced with a soft "g" in Hebrew, note that German in Hebrew is "Ashkenaz"). The Israeli Govt. was represented by Minister of Sport, Culture & Science Majadle, who is the first Arab in the Israeli Cabinet. He spoke briefly in Hebrew (with appropriate platitudes) and recognized the presence of about 10 other Ambassadors, including Germany, Mexico, Ecuador, etc.
The guest Conductor was Yi-an Xu, who has trained in the West. He first conducted two Chinese pieces of music followed by Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. The two Chinese pieces were of course westernized for orchestra. The first was a lyrical tone poem called "Reflections of the moon on Erquan," based on an old folk melody but attributed to Hua Yanjun. It was very nice but sounded better when played on the original instruments (we heard a short recording).
The second piece was "The Yellow River" piano concerto, that was much more lively and sounded (too much) like a Hollywood sound track. There was no composer listed for this piece, for although it was first conceived by a Chinese musician returning from study in Moscow, and was written in the style of Rachmaninov, it was subsequently recomposed by a Committee of ten! It was later revised by Madame Mao with a Committee of 6 selected musicians (in other word they recomposed it until she accepted it) in appropriate nationalistic (bombastic) style. In typical Maoist style the final movement is entitled "Defend the Yellow River!" and contains the old national anthem ("The East is Red") that is rarely heard in China these days. The piano soloist Nadia Weintraub was excellent, she trained in Tel Aviv and at Juilliard in NYC, and attacked the music with gusto.
We were surprised to discover that Beethoven was Chinese and was born in a log cabin on Mount Hsu near the Yangtze River (OK, I'm making this up!). Actually it was unclear why they included Beethoven in this "Chinese" program, either it was because they had no more Western-style Chinese music they could play or because it was an opportunity for a Chinese conductor to show that he could produce an acceptable version of a western classic (what could be more classic than Beethoven's 7th?). Needless to say he did an excellent job, and the applause was vociferous.
Why do the Chinese bother with Israel, when the Israeli population is less than the error in determining the Chinese population! Its not purely cultural, there must be a good reason, mainly defense (although they are against sanctions on Iran). Anyway 6 million Jewish Israelis are equivalent to ca. 60 million of any other country in terms of productivity (I hope they think so)!
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:14 PM
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