South China Morning Post
The Hong Kong Philharmonic recently performed a world premiere of Yao Chen's 'Waltz of the Rolling Giants,' a piece inspired by pandas and Sichuan mountain music. The concert also featured Eric Lu performing Chopin's Piano Concerto No 1.
Why it matters
Highlights cultural diplomacy and the intersection of traditional Chinese motifs with Western classical orchestral composition.
Given their proportions and lack of upright agility on their hind paws, the very notion of giant pandas dancing a waltz sounds, dare I say, absurd.
So going by its title alone, any chance of a cheeky lilt in 3/4 time or a nostalgic nod to the Strauss clan in Yao Chen’s panda-themed Waltz of the Rolling Giants, the opening piece in the Hong Kong Philharmonic’s “Chengdu Pre-Tour Concert: Eric Lu Plays Chopin”, seemed slim.
Thankfully, though, Chen’s waltz – an HK Phil world premiere written especially for the orchestra’s coming China tour, which begins, coincidentally, in Chengdu, the home of pandas – neither spiralled into a clumsy “polonaise for polar bears”, as musicologist Donald Tovey famously dubbed the finale of Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, nor ended up as an awkward romp among the bamboo shoots.
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