Balancing nature's symphony

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Wang Yi has retained a deep love for music and nature despite his busy work at a Chinese bank. Courtesy of Wang Yi

Despite the late hour, Wang Yi drapes a coat around his shoulders and reaches for the voice recorder that is never far from his side. This career banker and passionate composer softly croons a tune as it comes to mind, conscious that it could be the beginning of a new musical ode to his homeland.

Wang, whose composition, Praises of China, toured Vienna in January, does not deal in staves and is not a master of any musical instrument. Instead, he calls himself a "primitive composer".

Describing his musical methods, Wang, vice-governor of China Development Bank, refers to the people of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), who left no formal record of their music other than the lyrics and the sounds of their instruments, like carillon made of bronze. His is a modern adaptation. Wang records his voice on the computer and pieces together the rhythm to form each section.
Wang's recent work was part of a concert organized by the China Record Company and China Central Television (CCTV) and held at the Golden Hall of Musikverein, in Vienna. Shao En, chief conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of China, took the baton to lead the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra.

Wang, from Yunnan province, is a former history major from Peking University and holds a PhD in economics from the Southwest University of Finance and Economics. He has worked for the bank for a decade.

His impressive resume shows nothing to reveal his musical abilities. Yet Wang is a symphony enthusiast, devoted to creating exciting movements for his beloved country.

Premiering in December by the National Symphony Orchestra of China in Beijing, the theme of his four-movement symphony is the Chinese people's pursuit of their dreams.

"Praises of China is natural composing for me," the 53-year-old says. In 2002, he traveled to Qinghai province where "the mountains and blue skies could almost be touched". Wang had an impulse to free his voice and yelled constantly with echoes running back. For him, the yelling itself was a kind of melody.

"I give primary importance to these gorgeous landscapes. To those who make music as art in the face of commercial culture, who turn their imaginations over to populism and their intelligence to conformity, I say, bravo!"

Wang's melodies are impromptu, like that of minority singers from his native Yunnan, or of a young girl singing loudly while riding on the expansive prairie of Mongolia.

"There are no professional composers in minority areas, but graceful melodies come naturally when people communicate with nature and respond to the beautiful landscapes," Wang says. "So when my response to the beautiful scene in Qinghai comes to the fore once, twice and more, I believe it's time to give it verbal expression."

The four movements of Praises of China capture China at different times in its history over the past 30 years. Spring Morning, the first chapter, pays tribute to the coming spring and is a metaphor for the Chinese nation ushering in its recovery period after the suffering of winter. The grave brasses and stringed instruments with their deep melody define the warm tone, emphasizing that people must be steadfast in their faith and always carry on in the face of difficulties.

The third chapter, Taiwan, features a violin solo, ringing out plaintively and falling pitifully when Taiwan is parted from the motherland. Taking-off, China, the final chapter, defines the rise of China in an awe-inspiring conclusion to the piece.

Five days after the performance in Vienna, the concert was presented in Beijing, where it won enthusiastic standing applause from the audience.

Praises of China baritone Liao Changyong says Wang's work conveys a landscape that is open, brooding, sometimes ominous and often wintry. "His compositions have a way of imprinting themselves in your mind. Listen to them enough and you begin to think and take in the world as he does," Liao says.

"Wang has created a work of austere beauty," says Yin Shuguang, a member of the audience. "From the first moment, it is clear that his composition reflects a unique and powerful imagination."

(Source: Chinadaily)

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