Arts & Culture B5
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Arts & Culture B5 DECEMBER 29, 2011 – JANUARY 4, 2012 and pipa, which best express deep- notes, and everything had a mean- er emotions,” Shen Yun conductor All but lost in the ing. We are invited to discover spiri- The sound of heaven Chia-Chi Lin told The Epoch Times. East, the essence of tuality.” an age-old culture Achieving such an effect is not and phoenix pair. The fl ute sym- Dance and music: Unprecedented rises in the West. a simple matter of technique. Unifying two musical traditions to bolizes the dragon and the pipe synchronization In a special series, Although the musicians come symbolizes the phoenix,” she While Shen Yun’s dancers have The Epoch Times from world-famous symphonies awaken the senses explained. amazed the dance world with their takes a close look at and conservatories, it is a simple This rich symbolism has been a masterful degree of coordination the renaissance of conviction that guides them to part of China’s culture for millen- and synchronization, the three achieve such extraordinary results. BY IVAN PENTCHOUKOV back thousands of years, while nia. It permeates each walk of life orchestras have also received China’s traditional According to a video on the web- EPOCH TIMES STAFF Western classical music is relatively but is especially resonant in the countless accolades. It is the Shen culture and how site, the Chinese have long believed new in comparison. arts, which have long been consid- Yun conductors who serve as the a New York-based that to create true art one must fi rst China’s rich philosophical and ered a gift from the divine. medium between the dance and performing arts have a beautiful and pure inner The disparate sounds of traditional spiritual traditions are naturally at “Chinese instruments’ tonal the music that accompanies it. company has become self. Artists, poets, and people of Chinese instrumentation and the heart of its music. This applies quality is also closely tied to Chi- “I thought the orchestra was its driving force. all walks of life valued virtues, Western classical music have their not only to the quality of the sound nese philosophy. Traditional Chi- extraordinary,” Colin Clarke, a study, and meditation. All of the distinct origins, characteristics, and itself and the composition; it is nese culture emphasizes that all renowned Ontario conductor, told performers involved in Shen Yun timing, making them nearly impos- deeply ingrained and even guides things have a spirit. Refl ected in The Epoch Times in a post-perfor- ofh t e mus i ca l worl ldh ave pra i se d Performing Arts hold fast to this sible to unite. the mechanical process for build- Chinese music, this means that mance interview last year. the Shen Yun orchestras for their principle. Since 2007, however, the ground- ing each instrument. every note is alive,” said Ms. Jing. “You have organic activity with ability to transcend the realm of The result is a performance breaking orchestras for New York- This life is apparent in Shen the musicians, who are follow- music and to fulfi ll the senses. worthy of its title. Translated from based Shen Yun Performing Arts Yun’s musical pieces, which uti- ing the conductor, who in turn “I caught my breath. I dared not Chinese, Shen Yun means “divine have successfully accomplished Traditional lize the strengths of both musical is watching the performance on even breathe. It was very, very beauty.” precisely this. traditions to create an exceptional stage. So to get a 30- to 40-piece beautiful,” said Touve Ratovondra- By harmoniously combining a Chinese culture level of drama,p ex ressiveness , and orchestra to time their perfor- hety, a pianist for the Ballet O p era classical Western orchestra with depth. mance with the dda ncers who are House of Paris, after watching a Xiaochun Qi is an Erhu soloist classical Chinese instruments, the emphasizes that “When the dance story requires movinoving at different times is a dif- Shenh Yun performance.erformance and Shen Yun Orchestra Shen Yun orchestras have unveiled all things have a a grand style, we will accord a lot of fi cult task,” he said. “I discovered this evening member. She has captivated a new musical realm, appreciated emphasis on Western instruments. thathat all the gestures, the audiences worldwide with by countless audience members If there’s a need to depictde ict Oriental Beyondond technique, beyondbe ond art musimusi- spirit. Refl ected in her mastery of the two- worldwide who have experienced sentiments or scenes, we will use Audienceiences everywhere and the elite cal their live performances. There are Chinese music, this Chinese instruments such as stringed instrument, which three complete orchestras that erhu,rhu, bama - produces a melancholic tour together with the three Shen means that every boo fl ute, sound that is both hauntingly Yun dance companies. beautiful and stirring. The music traditions of East and note is alive. Jing West each evoke their own range of emotions and sensations. While Xuan. the Western orchestra can build up energy and portray grandeur, East- ern instruments carry an intricate “Take the pipa, for example. It voice that is characteristic of China’s stands three feet and fi ve inches unique musical tradition. tall: the ‘three’ symbolizes heaven, “Bringing out the quintessence earth, and man. The ‘fi ve’ symbol- of each of these two great musi- izes the fi ve elements of Chinese cal traditions, while at the same philosophy—metal, wood, water, time presenting a unifi ed theme, is fi re, and earth. Then it also has four one of the distinct features of Shen strings, symbolizing the four sea- Yun’s compositions,” Junyi Tan, a sons,” said Shen Yun composer and composer for Shen Yun Performing pipa player Jing Xuan, according to Arts, said in an interview posted on the Shen Yun website. the Shen Yun website. “Another example is the pairing of the fl ute and pipe, which are East and West, old and new often played together; behind it is The Chinese musical tradition dates the idea of the auspicious dragon COURTESY SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS The contemporary realist movement (Part 1) IMAGE COURTESY THE ARTIST IMAGE COURTESY THE ARTIST When one can take a found An in-depth object, put it in a museum and call it art, the general feeling look at the among this growing movement is that the defi nition of art has emergence of become so broad that the word “art,” as defi ned by the current the movement art establishment, ceases to have meaning. The modernist movement and its effects originated in the early 1900s and the critics of that time noted “the on the art world avowed purpose of art has been tampered with by introducing the elements of a missing-word BY KARA LYSANDRA ROSS composition. ... Many friends of art expect that it will meet its fate, but a few champions see a The term Contemporary Art has revolution in progress.” long been associated with the The Modernist underdogs Modernist and Post Modernist quickly took hold of the art world, Movements because at the time completely dominating it by the they were created, the words end of the 1940’s. After the trag- “contemporary art” or “modern edy of two world wars and the art” also meant the art of today. Great Depression, humanity was However, these movements left with a heart of cynicism and started several decades ago and “Promise of Renewal” a mind fi lled with existentialist today the terms have become by Duff y Sheridan, a thoughts—two qualities Modern deceptive. and Post-Modern art took to its “Foreclosure” by Max Ginsburg, 2011, depicts the anger and despair of being evicted from home. contemporary realist artist. A new movement of living core. artists is taking back the word In reaction to this negative represents what it values, what Pollack’s oeuvre, which is noth- progenitors of a Renaissance with contemporary and associating it recognize what they are looking view on humanity and its accom- it thinks about, and essentially ing more than splattered paint. new themes encapsulating free- with the traditional techniques at and respond to it on a human- plishments, the Contemporary what it deems worth remember- Contemporary Realists looked dom of speech through visual of the old masters applied to the ist level rather than a purely con- Realists felt mankind was best ing. Art is the representation of a back at the art that pre-dated storytelling. human experience as well as ceptual one. served by depicting through art people, encapsulating its essence those global catastrophes to the important subjects of the times. The Contemporary Realist the qualities in life that unite us on every level, and these artists old masters, and especially the Kara Lysandra Ross is the director The general public is growing movement fi rst started as a reac- as people rather than the debase- believe there is more to great art classical artists of the 19th cen- of operations for the Art Renewal tired of art that needs long expla- tion to the Modernist and Post- ment of civilization. than Marcel Duchamp’s Foun- tury, whose works reached their Center in New Jersey and an nations and justifi cations, and Modernists, who still dominate Nothing says more about a tain, which is really nothing zenith directly before the onset expert in 19th century European more and more people want to the art market today. culture than the art it idolizes. It more than a toilet, or Jackson of Modernism. They are now the painting. PHOTO BY BRUCE ZINGER National Ballet’s ‘The Nutcracker’ Guest conductor debuts these different ways is really interesting,” says the young con- ductor, adding that the experi- ence is both challenging and BY MADALINA HUBERT ducting a ballet, but under the rewarding.