Soprano Gan Lulu and pianist Zhang Jialin presented a modern Chinese poetry and song concert at Peking University in Beijing on Sept 19.
The program traced how Chinese composers drew on Western techniques while developing new musical languages for modern Chinese poetry.
A highlight of the concert was the performance of composer Jiang Wenye's Lyrical Songs of Lin Geng, 10 songs composed in 1956 set to poems written by Lin Geng (1910-2006) from the 1930s to the 1950s. It marked the first time the vocal cycle was performed in its entirety onstage.
Lin, who taught at Yenching University and Peking University, devoted his life to studying the forms and rhythms of modern Chinese poetry. The song cycle ranges from January in Beijing, which depicts the lively scenes of old Beijing temple fairs with kites flying overhead, to Spring in the Fields, which celebrates nature's renewal in spring. Other songs touch on themes including labor and construction, personal ideals, and the country's landscapes and life.
Combining the character of modern Chinese art song with a reflection of its times, the cycle is a long-overlooked gem of 20th-century Chinese vocal music. Pianist Zhang said the 10 songs were remarkable for their innovative treatment of the relationship between poetry and melody, as well as the piano's role in interpreting the poems.
Zhang also added that the program was notable for the way its melodies respond to the poetry, while the piano writing played an active role in interpreting the poems.
The concert also featured early Chinese art songs, including Xiao Youmei and Yi Weizhai's Question, widely regarded as the earliest published Chinese art song composed entirely by Chinese musicians, as well as Zhao Yuanren's settings of poems by Liu Bannong and Xu Zhimo.
Performed by Gan and Zhang, the works offered a musical journey through a formative period in Chinese art song, when poetry and music met amid the country's cultural transformation.
