Maestros reunited in music festival triumph
JASPER BECKER
Beijing's second music festival ended on a poignant note when veteran
American violinist Isaac Stern took to the stage to play Mozart with
82-year-old conductor Li Delun, a survivor of the Cultural Revolution.
It was a reprise of Stern's visit 20 years ago, when he came to
Beijing and helped mark the restoration of "bourgeois" Western music
on the mainland.
His visit was captured in a documentary, From Mao to Mozart - Isaac
Stern in China, which won an Oscar in 1979, just after the US had
formally recognised the People's Republic.
Footage from the documentary was shown during Friday night's performance.
Scenes of the American maestro giving lectures to halls packed with
laughing but nervous students showed a very different China.
Although Stern's infectious enthusiasm seemed undiminished by the
two decades that had passed, the talented young prodigies he encouraged
so long ago have changed considerably.
They included cellist Wang Jian, who was 10 at the time, violinist
Vera Tsu Wei-ling, who went on to study at the Juilliard School in
New York and is now vice-concertmaster with the Hong Kong Philharmonic
Orchestra, and pianist Pan Chen.
"Although we had studied foreign music since the 1920s, for 10 years
no foreign music could be played," recalled Li from his hospital bed
this week.
"At this moment, Stern came with very beautiful music. It was very
fresh. He changed the way Chinese appreciated music. We paid a lot
of attention to technique but neglected the music itself.
"He took talented kids and made them realise how they could make the
violin sing," he said.
"Stern taught us to follow music with your heart."
All three stars performed on Friday night, conducted by Stern's son,
David.
After the intermission, veteran actor Ying Ruocheng gave a dry but
witty introduction to the two men whom the audience had been waiting
for - Stern, 79, and Li.
The latter arrived in a wheelchair from which he conducted Mozart's
Violin Concerto No 3. When he finished, Li insisted on walking from
the stage unaided.
A graduate of the famous Shanghai Conservatory, he conducted the
Yan'an Central Orchestra, and in the 1950s was sent to study conducting
at the Moscow Conservatory.
"I came back to the Anti-Rightist Movement. Every day we had to
attend meetings. Then, after 1959, we were sent to the countryside,
but I insisted we keep the whole orchestra together in the countryside.
I said that we had to entertain local peasants," Li said.
Li re-appeared in 1977 to conduct a gala concert celebrating Beethoven's
150th anniversary, an event which marked the slow rehabilitation of
Western music.
He said the decision to hold the celebration was made two days before
he was referred to a meeting of the Politburo.
"[Former premier] Zhou Enlai said we could play Beethoven because he
was a revolutionary.
"The only time Western music was played during those years was when
we played Beethoven for Kissinger," Li said.
"Because for 10 years no foreign music was played in China, when they
broadcast the concert in 1977, cadres who heard the radio in remote
areas panicked because they thought it was an enemy broadcasting on
a Chinese station."
For more than three decades since the 1950s, Li was artistic director
and principal conductor of the Central Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra,
which is now the China National Symphony Orchestra.
On Friday, after their performance, the two men embraced each other
and then, amid loud applause, came back for two encores which were
conducted by David Stern.
In the end they all threw their bouquets of red roses into the excited
audience.
The concert highlighted how the mainland's relationship with classical
music has changed since Stern's first visit.
The Beijing Music Festival is patronised by the likes of Vice-Premier
Li Lanqing and Beijing Communist Party Secretary Jia Qinglin, but
relies heavily on corporate sponsorship.
Published in the South China Morning Post. Copyright (c) 1999. All
rights reserved.
Anna Kruener
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