AUTUMN WIND – CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CONCERT with HANOI NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE and Dong Kinh Co Nhac [The Ancient Music Ensemble of TONKIN]
AUTUMN WIND – CONTEMPORARY MUSIC CONCERT WITH HANOI NEW MUSIC ENSEMBLE and The ANCIENT MUSIC ENSEMBLE of TONKIN
Time: 20.00 – 04/11/2016
Venue: Grand Hall, Vietnam National Academy Of Music – 77 Hào Nam, Dong Da, Hà Nội.
Tickets available at Vietnam National Academy Of Music – 77 Hào Nam, Dong Da, Hà Nội.
Welcome to the Ancient and New Music of Việt Nam!
On Friday November 4 at 8 PM in the Grand Hall of Vietnam National Academy of Music, the Hanoi New Music Ensemble will be joined by the Ancient Music of Tonkin, in their not to be missed first collaboration. Together the two groups give voice to the true classical music of Việt Nam, connecting centuries of musical generations from the past to the present.
The concert opens with The “Communal House Door Song”, a perfect ancient introduction for the new music The Autumn Wind by Ton That Tiet and Fire Line by Nguyen Thien Đao, the grandfathers of Vietnamese new music. We turn to a brand new string quartet by Nguyen Minh Nhat, who proudly studies at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.
Then the music turns to two giants of the 20th century, the Pastorale of Igor Stravinsky and Dérive 1 by Pierre Boulez, followed by two masterpieces by the current leaders of Hanoi New Music Ensemble, The Memory by Vũ Nhật Tân and Resurrection of the Soul by Trần Kim Ngọc.
PROGRAM
“Communal House Door Song”: Ancient Music of Tonkin (for vocal, choral, Chau drum, Gongs, wooden block, Đáy, Nguyệt, Tranh)
Tôn Thất Tiết : The Autumn Winds (for violin & piano)
Nguyen Thien Dao: Fire Line (for flute & percussion)
Ton That Tiet: Voyage (for solo cello)
Nguyễn Minh Nhật : Emotions for string quartet
Intermission
Igor Stravinsky: Pastorale (violin, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bassoon)
Pierre Boulez : Derive 1 for six instruments (flute, clarinet, vibraphone, piano, violin, violoncello)
Trần Kim Ngọc : Phuc Hon (for flute, clarinette, violin, cello, piano and percussions)
Vũ Nhật Tân : The Memory (for flute, clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano and percussions).
PROGRAM NOTE
The concert opens with Communal House Door Song – a medley of the traditional songs and music has been performed internationally in ancient Vietnamese village. Vietnamese communal house is a traditional cultural cradle of the northern region, The Communal House’s Door Song is the oldest items are also kept to this day.
By the conducting of American conductor Jeff Von Der Schmidt and his assistant, violinist Jan Karlin, the program continues by a chance of contemporary music pieces starting by two Original Vietnamese composers, Ton That Tiet and Nguyen Thien Đao.
Thu Phong by Ton That Tiet brings wisps of sounds and figures to both violin and piano, with images of falling leaves upon water floating endlessly, supported only by their fragile weight.
Nguyen Thien Đao, a Vietnamese master composer who passed away in November 2015, is remembered with his ode to the fight for Vietnamese freedom with a haunting piece Fire Line, a quiet nocturne for solo flute and gongs.
Voyage by Ton That Tiet was written for Indian cellist Rohan de Saraam and echoes the songs of the composer’s home city of Huế. An exciting and fiery seven minute work blending the spirits of India and Việt Nam.
Emotions by young compoer Nguyen Minh Nhat closes the first half of the program. This talent guy wants to convey is how emotion in reality cannot be purely happy, sad, anxious or excited but instead a mixture of them. This is due to the lifestyle of the modern world where chains of events happen and the mind has to conjure different thoughts simultaneously, causing the emotions to mix.
Pastorale by great composer Igor Stravinsky – opens the last half of of the concert – was written as a thank you to Madame Rimsky-Korsakov in St. Petersburg and was originally for soprano. Stravinsky himself arranged the melody for violinist Samuel Dushkin and a quartet of oboe, English horn, clarinet and bassoon. The melody anticipates moments in his ballet The Firebird.
Following is Dérive 1 by giant composer Pierre Boulez- six minutes of glowing harmony comparable to the brilliant movement of golden carp in a pond, one moment still, the next moment swimming at great speed. A perfect introduction to one of the great musicians of our time, Boulez passed away at 90 years of age in January and this is the first performance of his music in Việt Nam.
The concert closes by two compositions Phục Hồn (Resurrection of The Soul) and The Memory (Ky Uc) of the two leading composers of Vietnamese contemporary music, Tran Kim Ngoc and Vu Nhat Tan, who were influenced by master Ton That Tiet.
“Phuc Hon” – one of the most interesting contemporary chamber music piece exploring spiritual senses, which has been written by Kim Ngọc when she was a student.
“My father passed away in 1994. According to Vietnamese custom, on the third day after a loved one’s death, his family holds a ceremony known as “PHUC HON”.
Vietnamese people believe that after spending three days in the supernatural world, dead people’s souls often try to return to their bodies in this world, only to discover that they cannot reintegrate themselves and sadly, cannot return to their previous lives. They are unable to accept their own deaths, and thus their spirits continue to remain close to their relatives, participating invisibly in the daily events of their families. They are extremely frustrated, regretful and full of nostalgia for the memories of former lives. This is time to perform a “PHUC HON” ceremony.
Buddhist monks, who are intermediaries between this world and the next one, perform a ceremony rite to console them, and to convince them that they truly no longer belong on earth. They are told to make peace with their deaths, and to be happy as they pass on to an eternal world.
I love my farther very much. My mother and I cerebrated a simple “PHUC HON” for him. Afterwards, I wrote this piece to worship for his soul.”
“The Memory” is written in the years when Vũ Nhật Tân was a student of Vietnam National Academy of Music and influenced by contemporary French music style at that time. This piece has been written for a small ensemble in which each player plays in both independent and interactive ways, and adapts the structure of “Tai Tu Cai Luong” – a traditional music of Vietnam. This piece using complex technical playing and it’s harmony evokes an ancient atmosphere of Vietnamese traditional music.
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