Some of the things I have done in Beijing since my last post are:
1. Forbidden City: Pretty amazing. All this for one man??? It was a Saturay morning and that only means one thing in Beijing - PEOPLE and lots of them. I never had so much jostling to catch a glimpse of the throne room. Chinese people here have no qualms about shoving or pushing you away even when they can actually scoota by without touching you, they just do. I was pretty ticked off by the middle of our tour. I was giving some people very very dirty looks. I want to go back to the area maybe on a weekday afternoon to catch one or two more buildings in there.
2. China Philharmonic: The concert hall is beside the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. Some French pianist played.. sorry it wasn't a very good concert. I left after intermission. The piece performed was Saint-Saens Piano Concerto in G major. The pianist was very showy, flailing arms and lots of head banging. The sound and technique however didn't match. Everything was fast and loud. I hated the encore the most, when he played a Chopin piece.. it escapes me now. I have never heard that piece so fast and loud before.. and the audience loved it. After intermission, I stayed for a trumpet concerto. The piece was straightforward and I don't know enough about trumpet music to judge it. I decided to leave after this as it was a cold night. As I was putting on my coat in the stairwell, I heard the trumpeter's encore. To my surprise, it was a movie theme. I made the right decision not to stay. I enjoyed Tiananmen Square at night better than I did the concert.
3. Two piano recitals: Giovanni Vitaletti & Shen Wen Yu - both of which I enjoyed very much.
They were not the 'hot' showy pianists but more of the introvert artists. Vitaletti's concert was at Peking University. I particularly enjoyed Vitaletti's playing and interpretation of Beethoven op. 53 and 57. He also played Busoni's "Carmen Fantasy" and a set of variations by Liszt. I'm sorry I don't know the titles as the program was entirely in Chinese (of course) and I ended up doing some translation for the Italians close by. I don't think the audience knew how to appreciate his playing as much as the Frenchman's. People started leaving when he was playing his encores, which were from Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition".
Shen is a fairly young pianist and technically brilliant. For such a young pianist, he displayed a depth and maturity to his playing. Thankfully there was none of the flashy displays made infamous by another excellent Chinese pianist. His concert was held at the Central Conservatory Concert Hall. His teachers were there and so were the next generation of China's pianists between the ages of 5 and up. It was like a circus or a cinema. I was so thankful my seat was on the last row of the hall. I would not need to tolerate any noise behind me, except that it was a blustery day and it got fairly chilly at the back.
The conservatory area is beautiful and I just couldn't imagine what it was like during the Cultual Revolution. I just pondered on the fact that all the Chinese pianists and composers I admire, have walked or played in this hall.
4. Dance: The Cyclone of Gengkhis Khan - I had received two free tickets to the dance show from my oral Chinese teacher. The tickets were worth 280 yuan each. I couldn't find anyone else to go with me so I went alone.
When I got to the Poly Theatre, I found out that tonight's show was the Beijing premier. I wish I was better dressed for the performance and wish that I had brought my camera along with me. There were lots of press photographers and interviews going on. Some of the dancers were already in full costume, posing for photos in the lobby.
I ran into some CUN students and a dance teacher. She helped me scalp off the ticket. That was an interesting experience as I had never done such a thing before. At first we went close to the subway exit, and quickly discovered we were in the professional scalper's territory. He was not friendly at all and basically told us to find our own spot. We go back to the entrance of the building and we just start asking people around us. Finally, a middle-aged man bought the ticket from me. I wouldn't name my price and just said I would take whatever he offered. He pulls out a thick wad of cash and pulls out a 100 bill. He asks if that's enough, so I got 100 yuan for the extra ticket. I was happy! (It means another trip to Dong Wu Yuan .. for another blog.)
The audience was primarily Beijingers and this meant a different concert etiquette. Since this was the premier, the press were filming the show. There was also a slight commotion as some seats were blocked by the sound and light board. The couple who had those seats were not happy and were shouting at the ushers. Somehow they had it resolved. I guess they were given seats further up front. I had a seat towards the rear of the auditorium and was seated right in front of the press rows. Unfortunately, they walked most of the evening. It was obvious they had seen the rehearsals and could indulge in their own conversations.
The show was good but after watching the seed of such dance dramas (Dynamic Yunnan), this paled in comparison. The dances were well-choreographed and the costumes were amazing. They danced to Mongolian music and I was glad to hear some throat singing. There was however something missing from this performance. The expressions may have been a little fake but I still cannot pin point what is missing. I was fairly disappointed but expected that they would praise GK, and omitted the fact that he enjoyed "the sight of men crying when their women were carried away on horseback and their children slaughtered". The end of the show was the most interesting when the audience stood and joined them in singing a song. I had no idea what it was.
The best part of the evening was this: I got a free bus ride home to CUN with the dance school. I was glad not to have to take the subway and bus back as I was simply exhausted.
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