YST Conservatory's concert with Percussion and Strings was good. The first piece was played by their head of violins(or strings) Qian Zhou, which I always thought sounded like 欠揍. But that wouldn't make sense, as the dialect would become Kiang Mao or Kiang Pah. Anyway, very exotic violin concerto by Harrison, employing some compositional technique called Control Intervals.(or was it Interval Controls?) Anyway, the highlight was much on the mixture and use of unconventional percussion instruments, rather gamelan sounding and a little western comtemporary. Fusion I suppose. Almost dozed off after a while, felt like I was in a temple in Thailand. Luckily the piece made a hasty ending.
I enjoyed the 2nd piece a lot, Shchedrin's rendition of Carmen Suite. Plenty of surprises; both blending and yet offering contrast. Theme of Toreadors and Habenara was made reall interesting to listen to. Thought entr'acte and Aragonaise wasn't too much of difference, in fact I thought entr'acte didn't sound as good as the original. Loved the re-make from Les Dragons d'Alcala, fantastic change in rhythm and colour. Seems like Shchedrin forgot about Seguidilla and Gypsy Dance though, was hoping to catch these two familiar favourites.
Strings and Percussion seem to blend better in modern pieces, perhaps due to the decrease in need for harmony in parts. The 2nd piece kind of reminded me of the GENUS getup for Chinese Spring Overture, quite similar in a way. Balance between strings and percussion is quite hard to achieve. Find that the percussion cuts through too much, but yet asking them to play less would also mean losing that 'oomph' in the percussive parts. Dilemma. As with GENUS's Spring Overture too, the percussions are a little way too above the rest in the recording, which makes the sound a shade too pompous and unpolished.
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