On February 23rd, Wang Zhijiong and the Times Ensemble performed Mendelssohn and Grille's String Octet, as well as Johann Strauss Jr.'s Waltz for the Emperor, at the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra Auditorium.
The last time I heard Wang Zhijiong perform with the Times Ensemble was when the group had just been formed and performed an orchestral adaptation of Shostakovich's Violin Sonata at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. Lao Xiao's depth and obscurity are in stark contrast to the intimate and charming style of the Eastern and Western Romantics on the 23rd. Of course, to see Russia as "Eastern", this is the perspective of Western Europe. But Grillet's "String Octet" does fully combine the afterglow of Western European Romanticism with the folk style of Russia.
The work has a charming singing aesthetic and situation, and it is not even a tribute to the thick late romance, but a more concise and simple romantic lyrical style. The appearance of such a work in the 20th century is nothing less than a spectacle. Needless to say, Mendelssohn's work is the most genius of the young geniuses. "The Emperor's Waltz" is a string ensemble version arranged by Shen Ye. These ** present the brightest and most straightforward grace of their respective eras. Wang Zhijiong's performance with the Times Ensemble embodies the direct beauty, and the extremely rich layers should be explored, so that the listener can appreciate the difference in beauty itself, and then appreciate the characteristics of the original work.
If we compare with Lao Xiao last time, it further shows that even if some emotions are difficult to look at directly and are tragic, as long as they are shaped in the context of art, they should also be another expression of beauty. Lao Xiao's heterogeneity and tearing, as well as Mendelssohn's song and harmony, belong to the different intervals of this combination's ** performance "spectrum", and each of them performs very exquisitely.
In the first movement of Griere's String Octet in D major, the Times Ensemble presents a pleasant singing syntax, everything just right. The beauty of the timbre, the thoroughness of the texture, the smoothness and non-branching of the lines, the tacit understanding of the different parts of the voice, and the natural breathing when the eight instruments are intertwined to present the musical phrases, all have the level of contemporary models. In fact, the more "basic" the quality, the rarer it is to perform with a high degree of completion at present. Just because the breathing of the phrase is natural, in order to express a good image like a song, it cannot be missing in any case. And this is deeply related to the tacit understanding and taste of the collaborators in chamber music.
The Times Ensemble is a group led by Wang Zhijiong, focusing on chamber music compositions. This makes perfect sense to build a combination – because the first group, from a small string quartet to a modern orchestra, is basically a handful of soul figures who have laid down their style. Of course, the high level of commitment of other members is also very important, otherwise the quality will not be improved.
Wang Zhijiong's tone for the group is, first and foremost, respecting the essential tonal beauty of stringed instruments, accompanied by ideal intonation control. It is necessary to start from a good foundation in order to continue to deepen the rich level of performance. Just as the group expresses Grille's "octet", it has a good grasp of the lighter, somewhat nodative singing concept of the early Romantics, as well as the "concentration" of the overall sound and expression. Never because of the Russian background of the work, add overly dense sound and syntactic design.
There are many layers to beauty, but the initial tone is very important, whether it is the style of a combination or the examination of a single work.
Wang Zhijiong and the leaders of the Times Ensemble, in the Andante movement composed by Grille, have made a deep exploration of the subtle phrases when depicting the singing phrases and the shaping of sound layers. The real performance serves the best, not necessarily to add a depth that the original work does not have, but to fully demonstrate the value of the original work. The value of Grillere's work is also sometimes somewhat controversial. The performance on the 23rd is a good illustration of the value of the work - there is no need to dig out the depth, and the artistic conception of the pure beauty of a few instruments is enough to become all the reasons for people to continue to appreciate the work.
And in Mendelssohn's "String Octet in E flat major", the same pure beauty is completely sublimated. Expressing the slow movement of this work, eight musicians bring the beautiful colors, sound quality, and sensitive qualities of the soft conversations of the instruments to an otherworldly spiritual level. With such a beautiful sound and such outstanding dynamic control, it gradually constitutes a world that is so delicate that it can be broken. Beginning with outstanding technical achievements, the goal is to restore the authentic sensitivity that is unique to the top masterpieces of early Romanticism. **The family did succeed.
Later, Mendelssohn's chant-like themes are portrayed in a deeply moving way. What is presented here is the true soul of the early Romantics, and it is the object of Grière's affectionate homage more than a hundred years later.
Zhang Keju text.