South China Morning Post
Monday February 22 1999
Guangzhou's quest for cultural refinement set back after night of
musical chairs
NOTES ON CHINA by Oliver Chou
The recent Guangzhou debut concert of the American Julliard String
Quartet turned out to be what the local media euphemistically called
"an incident".
All three major Guangzhou newspapers - the Guangzhou Daily, Yangcheng
Evening News and Nanfang Daily - expressed grave concern as to who
was responsible for the "impropriety" and what should be done to
prevent future embarrassment.
The incident was the fourth in recent months in Guangzhou involving
chamber concerts. What the press called "chaos" also erupted at the
performances of the Borodin Quartet and pianists Fu Cong and Kong
Xiangdong, the Yangcheng Evening News said.
At the Julliard event, latecomers forced their way into the Xinghai
Concert Hall and hopped over seats, trying to reach the best ones.
The musicians stopped playing more than four times. They argued
among themselves as to whether the concert should go on when the
entire audience dispersed after their first work, interpreting the
brief break as an intermission.
During the second half of the programme, Smetana's From My Life
quartet, the performance was halted by a beeper in the audience.
The musicians were willing to finish only after order was restored.
"We are very sorry to the Julliard and we are afraid of losing face
again," said a local organiser after cancelling the next chamber
music concert.
"Shame, shame" was the headline of a commentary in the Yangcheng
Evening News. Its article raised the issue to the level of public
morals, which were deemed deplorable.
"Although our country has long been known as the land of etiquette
and propriety, some people know nothing about politeness, manners
and respect for others. They are self-centered and have no sense
of public orderliness and morality," the paper said.
Others sympathised with the audience and placed the blame elsewhere.
"How unjust it is to spank only the audience," said the Nanfang Daily,
the mouthpiece of the provincial Communist Party. "Shouldn't the
concert hall management staff be responsible for maintaining order?
"The audience need not take the blame as they were not told about
the practice of a brief break between works. Besides, the programme
guide did say there was an intermission period."
The municipal Guangzhou Daily asked for understanding and forgiveness
for the crowd, "whose knowledge of the music was inadequate".
"Some among the audience should be criticised, like those who came
in late and changed seats during the performance. That was
unforgivable," it said.
"But we should not be over-demanding to those who lack music
appreciation and, as an example, applauded between movements."
The paper suggested organisers could remind audiences to switch off
mobile telephones and pagers, and enforce policies of no entry for
latecomers.
The incident drew the attention of Guangdong Vice-Governor Li Lanfang,
who suggested the programme guide should specify the number of
movements for each work.
A leading Guangzhou music figure backed the suggestion. The audience's
inexperience with chamber works was the prime reason for their applause
between movements, said Yu Qikeng, concertmaster of Guangzhou Symphony
Orchestra.
"Chamber music is rather new to our Guangzhou audience," said Yu.
"They are quite innocent of the charge of lacking proper concert hall
manner, such as clapping between movements, because they simply don't
have a history of appreciation for chamber works."
An official of the Beijing Concert Hall, who travelled with the
Julliard to Guangzhou, said: "Audiences in Beijing and Shanghai are
very quiet and know how to enjoy the echo of the end note. Guangzhou
concert-goers, on the other hand, cannot wait to move around once
the music stops."
The Yangcheng Evening News agreed. "From what happened at the Julliard
concert, perhaps Guangdong at present does not have a place among the
audience for chamber music," the paper said.
The incident might be viewed as a slap in the face to officials trying
to promote western classical music in Guangzhou. Despite financial
constraints, the recent Guangdong People's Congress allocated 40
million yuan (HK$37.2 million) to renovate the Xinghai Hall this
year.
Rachel Lee
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