Review on the Conclusion of the Work Concert Series with Ma Xiaohui on the Chinese and Ola Rudner on the European Violin – Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen
Sweet Temptation from the Far East
With a shining red kimono and a towering hairstyle splendor, Ma Xiaohui left no doubt at all, already from an optical viewpoint, that she was going to bring a good portion of China to the List concert hall. In fact, she did so on Friday evening in her performance with the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra in the last Work Concert of the Series. And with an “erhu,” a kind of Chinese violin. A long, thin stem sits on a tiny, thickset body that is covered – animal welfarists, please, try not to listen for a moment! – by a snake skin.
“Small, but oho! A mighty midget“ one would like to say. For the fragile looking instrument that, like a mini cello, vertically standing is being played with its body on the lab, enfolds a breathtaking richness of sounds. The wide range stretches from a dark-melancholic, cello-like murmur to very lively whirling dance motives. Powerful melodious sequences alternate with powder of stars in the highest skies. There is no problem for the pretty Chinese to stand up to the orchestra And the audience was there marveling.
This evening a Chinese presented herself that is definitively open to the West. Moderator Tobias Grauer was clearly right by pointing to the soundtrack of the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” in order to introduce the virtuoso to the audience. Admittedly, Ma Xiaohui began her own composition “The Spirit of My Erhu” with abstract tone landscapes, whose tentative sounds again and again break out of the usual European semitone scale.
A touch of “Bollywood”
Yet, amidst the mythical strangeness the soloist threw a melody that was so catchy and emotional like the brochure for vacation in China. And one found oneself in the genre that mixes Far-Eastern folklore with Western classical music and a bit Pop. Just a kind of Chinese “Bollywood” if one wishes.
Also her second piece “Shepherdess in the Tianshan Mountains,” presented now in a snow-white kimono, was devoured by the audience like honey. This own composition displayed a lot of temperament and fascinated by its changes from poetic tender to go-getting parts. Much applause!
[Photo: Art in Kimono: Ma Xiaohui with the Chinese violin “Erhu.”]
Reutlinger Generalanzeiger, 16 June 2009.
Review on the Work Concert of the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen
Fairytales and Myths
From a fairytale East came the music of the guest soloist Ma Xiaohui. The world-renowned virtuoso on the Chinese Erhu, a kind of two-string, delicate knee-cello with a long stem and a resonance body covered by snake skin, played her own compositions: “The Spirit of My Erhu” and “Shepherdess in the Tianshan Mountains.”
Singing Strings and Gentle Voice
As the first began with micro intervals and a subtle art of tone colors and then led to global Neo-Romantic, a similar pattern evolved in the second: Playful precluding followed very expressive singing of the strings and a crescendo finale.
Touching was the moment when Ma Xiaohui complemented the singing of the wailing strings with her own gentle voice: the spirit of the erhu – the essence of the human voice.
[Photo: Guest soloist at the Work Concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra – the erhu-player Ma Xiaohui]
Reutlinger Nachrichten, 15 June 2009.
Sweet Temptation from the Far East
With a shining red kimono and a towering hairstyle splendor, Ma Xiaohui left no doubt at all, already from an optical viewpoint, that she was going to bring a good portion of China to the List concert hall. In fact, she did so on Friday evening in her performance with the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra in the last Work Concert of the Series. And with an “erhu,” a kind of Chinese violin. A long, thin stem sits on a tiny, thickset body that is covered – animal welfarists, please, try not to listen for a moment! – by a snake skin.
“Small, but oho! A mighty midget“ one would like to say. For the fragile looking instrument that, like a mini cello, vertically standing is being played with its body on the lab, enfolds a breathtaking richness of sounds. The wide range stretches from a dark-melancholic, cello-like murmur to very lively whirling dance motives. Powerful melodious sequences alternate with powder of stars in the highest skies. There is no problem for the pretty Chinese to stand up to the orchestra And the audience was there marveling.
This evening a Chinese presented herself that is definitively open to the West. Moderator Tobias Grauer was clearly right by pointing to the soundtrack of the film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” in order to introduce the virtuoso to the audience. Admittedly, Ma Xiaohui began her own composition “The Spirit of My Erhu” with abstract tone landscapes, whose tentative sounds again and again break out of the usual European semitone scale.
A touch of “Bollywood”
Yet, amidst the mythical strangeness the soloist threw a melody that was so catchy and emotional like the brochure for vacation in China. And one found oneself in the genre that mixes Far-Eastern folklore with Western classical music and a bit Pop. Just a kind of Chinese “Bollywood” if one wishes.
Also her second piece “Shepherdess in the Tianshan Mountains,” presented now in a snow-white kimono, was devoured by the audience like honey. This own composition displayed a lot of temperament and fascinated by its changes from poetic tender to go-getting parts. Much applause!
[Photo: Art in Kimono: Ma Xiaohui with the Chinese violin “Erhu.”]
Reutlinger Generalanzeiger, 16 June 2009.
Review on the Work Concert of the Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Reutlingen
Fairytales and Myths
From a fairytale East came the music of the guest soloist Ma Xiaohui. The world-renowned virtuoso on the Chinese Erhu, a kind of two-string, delicate knee-cello with a long stem and a resonance body covered by snake skin, played her own compositions: “The Spirit of My Erhu” and “Shepherdess in the Tianshan Mountains.”
Singing Strings and Gentle Voice
As the first began with micro intervals and a subtle art of tone colors and then led to global Neo-Romantic, a similar pattern evolved in the second: Playful precluding followed very expressive singing of the strings and a crescendo finale.
Touching was the moment when Ma Xiaohui complemented the singing of the wailing strings with her own gentle voice: the spirit of the erhu – the essence of the human voice.
[Photo: Guest soloist at the Work Concert of the Philharmonic Orchestra – the erhu-player Ma Xiaohui]
Reutlinger Nachrichten, 15 June 2009.
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