Sydney Opera House, Concert Hall
May 6, 2018

Tales of the Silk Road is subtitled A Concert of Chinese Plucked Instruments and Percussion. Presented by Ausfeng, it features the Australian premiere of distinguished Pipa virtuoso Zhang Hong-yan and the Plucked String Orchestra of the Central Conservatorium of Music from China.

At the heart of the concert is Zhang who is known around the world for her extraordinary expressiveness on the Pipa – a four-stringed Chinese lute with a pear-shaped wooden body, which has a 2000-year history. Here, Zhang is surrounded by various percussive instruments, and more than 20 other musicians (mostly female) on various Chinese stringed instruments including the Ruan and the Huqin (a tall, thin, two-stringed instrument like a little spike fiddle with a sound box at the bottom).

Zhang Hong-yan (centre) with Liu Xiaojing and Hu Yanlu in Spring of Tian Mountain. All photographs by Jiang Changgeng

Zhang has a reputation for exploring a new fusion between Eastern and Western music. In 2002, while she was touring the Uygurs in Inner and Central Asia, she discovered mural art grottoes with pictures of the Pipa and drum playing together. Rarely seen in contemporary music, it is something that features here.

The concert includes folk songs from along the Silk Road, ancient music, and contemporary Chinese music, with Western variations. I am no expert in Chinese music but as an interested outsider, it is a rich, elegant concert with numerous different mood swings, frequently in the same piece, and absolute precision in the music-making.

Zhang Hong-yan with dancer Li Xiang in Tales of the silk road

The stage is simply but beautifully arranged with two long rows of hanging panels in different patterns, which change colour under the lighting. Between each number, chairs and instruments are very quickly reset. As the concert unfolds, the performers become more colourful in their clothing, lit by vibrant stage lighting.

The concert opens with Zhang and two other female Pipa plays, both in white (Liu Xiaojing and Hu Yanlu) in a piece called Spring of Tian Mountain, in which shimmering chords, some played at a terrific speed, and the musicians banging now and then on the bodies of the Pipa, create a glowing sound that at times has an almost flamenco feel.

In an ancient piece called Blossoms on a Moonlit River in Spring, featuring Zhang with three other Pipa players and two Ruan players, sequences of chord bounce and play off each other through various moods, building to a mesmerisingly quick sequence. The piece had the couple next to me singing quietly along.

Wei Ran and Wang Jianhua in Cockfight

In the first act, Zhang also performed with a drummer (Wei Ran) and a dancer in  Tales of the Silk Road. The drummer uses a range of various instruments in a sparse but subtly dramatic way. At times, as the focus was entirely on percussion, Zhang bent her head down so that it was almost hidden behind her instrument before taking charge again as the Pipa took precedence. A dancer (Li Xiang) moved around the stage, right up to Zhang at times, moving with a serene precision before erupting into more acrobatic moves.

The first act also include a piece called Wusheng featuring six women on Pipa and Ruan, as well as Hu Yu on the Huqin. Here the mood moved from the starkly minimal to lushes of gorgeous melody from the glowing Huqin. Meanwhile, Cockfight featured four percussionists with Wang Jianhua and Wei Ran as the two central players, who brought some lovely humour to the piece as they circled around each other like roosters.

The Plucked Orchestra of the Central Conservatory of Music with conductor Ge Yanan in Na Lati

The second act begins with a lively percussion piece called Adventures in the Heavenly Place, arranged by percussionist Wang Jianhua, featuring vibraphones and a plucked zither among other instruments. The mostly female Plucked Orchestra from the Central Conservatory of Music perform in several works in the second act, with uplifting, joyous pieces conducted by Ge Yanan that have an almost filmic feel, with one reminiscent of a romance, another with a military mode, and one recalling a western.

Zhang Hong-yan stars in Ambush on All Sides

The evening ends with a stunning piece of ancient music called Ambush on All Sides featuring Zhang and two drummers on stage, while the other instrumentalists moved into the auditorium and lined up on the side aisles on both sides. As Zhang – now in dramatic red – took the lead, they echoed and responded to her sound. At one point, a note literally moved slowly around the auditorium to dazzling effect. It was a dramatic, touching end to an inspiring, elegant evening.

Tales of the Silk Road plays at Melbourne Recital Centre on May 8

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