5:14PM BST 20 Jul 2014
This was the first ever visit by a Chinese orchestra to the Proms, and the China Philharmonic Orchestra was determined to make the most of it. They brought a popular programme that wowed us with their virtuosity and ensured a packed house. And to show classical music has taken on a distinct Chinese accent they brought the trumpet concerto Joie éternelle, by the seasoned composer Qigang Chen.
Another essential for this debut: one of those hot young Chinese virtuosi everyone’s talking about. And there he was, 24 year-old pianist Haochen Zhang, to play Liszt’s First Piano Concerto. Only one thing remained to turn this event into a diplomatic coup: a courteous nod to the host nation. We got three. There was a distinguished British soloist (trumpeter Alison Balsom, in Chen’s trumpet concerto), Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March no 4, and an amusing surprise at the end.
As a piece of programming it was a triumph. As a musical event it was decidedly mixed. Conductor Long Yu pushed Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet along with military briskness. The throbbing anxiety of the music, the delicious little transitions, the big melody, were all glossed over - which was a shame, as here and there one caught signs of real talent amongst the woodwind soloists.
Long Yu’s matter-of-fact decisiveness was actually an advantage in the constant tempo changes of Liszt’s concerto. It provided a firm frame for pianist Hoachen Zhang, who proved to be something special. He made the Allegretto dance with Mendelssohnian lightness and Lisztian diablerie, and played the melody of the Quasi Adagio with melting softeness, placing a daring pause before the repeat.
That was the evening’s best moment, though there were beautiful episodes of dreamy nostalgia in Chen’s concerto, based on a much-loved Chinese melody. By now the orchestra had warmed up and gave us a highly coloured, though again somewhat briskly efficient performance of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
It was only in the first of the two encores, the guilelessly tender Wonderful Night by Liu Tian Hua, that the conductor and players finally loosened up. Then came the surprise. A back-desk violinist joined one of her cellist colleagues at the front, and together with the orchestra gave us a rumbustiously virtuoso set of variations on God Save the Queen, specially arranged for the occasion. Of course it brought the house down. In an evening of shrewd moves, this was the shrewdest.
Watch this Prom on the iPlayer for seven days and hear it for 30 days on the Proms website www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
