This will be an unusual blog post because I have no photos. But I must tell about an amazing experience I had with my friend Vesper. She took me to a concert by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra at the Cultural Center.
First of all the venue was wonderful. The acoustics were perfect and every seat had a great view. At first glance it looked much like any symphony configuration but then the surprises started. Other than some of the percussion instruments and the harp, there was nothing I recognized from the symphony back home.
The instruments comprising the orchestra were unique and included the gaohu, the erhu, the zhonghu, the gehu, the yangqin, the liuqin & xiaoruan, the pipa, the zhongruan, the daruan, the sanxian, the zheng & konghu, the harp, the qudi, the bangdi, the xindi & dadi, the sheng, the suona, the guan and percussion. The only one of these instruments (other than percussion and harp) that I had any familiarity with was the erhu. It resembles a small box with a very long neck and two strings and is played with a bow. It has been shown to equal the versatility of sound to the violin. I had seen them being played in Beijing and Singapore. It was a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. I spent much of the evening trying to figure out which sounds came from which instruments.
When the orchestra began to play it was a thrilling sound. The depth and richness of the music was so very different and yet was so very familiar. You could hear water and the wind all mixed in with the melody. It was an experience I hope to repeat before returning home this fall.
If you ever have the opportunity to see a traditional Chinese orchestra, please do. It will be an experience you will long remember.
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