Four young composers wrote "Our World" and the "City of Glory" themed concert was played
On May 24, young conductor Zhang Lu conducted the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to perform the "Glory City" themed concert "Our World", welcoming nearly a thousand audiences as the 2024 Shanghai Red Culture Season literary party class. The symphonic suite "Our World" was commissioned by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and jointly composed by four young composers Huang Kairan, Zhang Wei, Yang Fan and Zheng Yang. It revolves around the theme of "the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" and features "Warm China", "Speed China" and " Composed of four movements: "Happy China" and "Future China", it is not only a record of current life, but also a "letter" written to the future.
The symphonic suite "Our World" will premiere in 2022. Last year, it made its finale at the "National Outstanding Symphonic Works Exhibition" organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The four composers, who have collaborated many times and have become good friends, each movement shows a distinct personality, and the movements are connected to form a kaleidoscope. After listening to the suggestions of experts and audiences, they continued to polish and brought the latest version to the "City of Glory" themed concert this time.
Photographed by Cai Leilei at the "City of Glory" themed concert "Our World"
Yang Fan, the composer of the third movement "Happy China" said: "Although the content of the writing is different, when expanded into the larger framework, our emotional base is the same. Our children, parents, family members, our communities, parks, and great rivers and mountains are all Part of this world. We use the emotions of young people to express the present and imagine the future world.”
Zheng Yang designed the fourth movement "Future China" as a rhapsody with lofty artistic conception, all-encompassing and unlimited hope. "Here, we can clearly hear music materials rich in Chinese cultural style, while absorbing and integrating a wider range of stylistic languages, technical types, and aesthetic concepts."
Last August, at the "National Expert Symposium on the Performance of Excellent Symphonic Works" held in Harbin, Hao Weiya, professor and composer at the Central Conservatory of Music, commented that "Our World" is filled with an exciting and energetic "sense of youth." "As the epitome of the new generation of composers, they have the courage to use the musical vocabulary of their own era to express their inner feelings and sincerely communicate with the audience. They observe the world from the perspective of young people and write about contemporary China with heart, emotion and effort. The splendid chapter not only left people with emotional excitement, but also gave us confidence in the future of Chinese music."
On the afternoon of May 24, at the 2024 edition seminar of "Our World", composer and professor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music Ye Guohui said: "I feel the vitality, creativity and passion from the music of the four young composers. Young people’s observation and understanding of the world is beyond imagination. I think the most important thing about music is to move the audience and create a beautiful resonance with the audience.”
What impressed Cao Wenbing the most was the first movement "Warm China". The cello, flute, trumpet, and French horn sang without using a single Chinese instrument, but they accurately told Chinese stories and showed the warmth of China. "Four young musicians have witnessed China's development over the years, and they have also recorded China's development with notes inspired by their emotions. This sincerity touches me. Listening to this work again in twenty or thirty years will be a reminder of today's A vivid memory of China.”
Since the founding of New China, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra has composed and premiered a large number of red classic symphony works, using music to record the progress of the times, convey ideals and beliefs, and write moving movements in the ever-changing times. In 1949, orchestra player Lin Chaoxia performed orchestral orchestration for the "March of the Volunteers", which was designated as the "contemporary national anthem", and was recorded and released under the conductor Huang Yijun to celebrate the founding of New China.
In 1962, Ding Shande's "Long March Symphony" premiered. In 1965, at the opening concert of "Shanghai Spring", the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Film Orchestra jointly premiered Lu Qiming's "Ode to the Red Flag". Classic works such as "Monument to the People's Heroes" and "Symphonic Fantasia" by Shanghai Symphony Orchestra resident composers Qu Wei and Zhu Jian'er were also premiered by generations of Shanghai Symphony Orchestra conductors.
Photographed by Cai Leilei at the "City of Glory" themed concert "Our World"
In 2019, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra published the album "70 Years of Chinese Symphony" to celebrate the 70th birthday of the People's Republic of China and showcase the brilliant achievements of the development of Chinese symphony. In 2021, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra commissioned four new works "Chasing the Waves", "Fathers", "Let's Run to the Sea Together and Look Up at the Stars" and "Ode to China", and launched a "Red Tour to Celebrate the Centenary of the Founding of the Party".
In the 2024 Shanghai Red Culture Season, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra will also launch three online theme concerts at 19:30 on May 24, June 14 and June 28 to pay tribute to the "Glorious City". Lu Qiming's "Ode to the Red Flag", Ding Shande's "Long March Symphony", Yu Ji's "Ode to the Silk Road", Zhu Jian'er's "Dream Search for the Silk Road", Yu Yang's "Ode to China", Yang Fan's "Fathers", Fang Guqing's "Ode to Renaissance", Zhao Lin's new and old works such as "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" make people look back on history and look forward to the future in their musical notes.
