Compose for Intangible Heritage
On the evening of 2 June at 7:30pm, the He Luting Concert Hall of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music hosted Intangible Heritage of Shanghai, a concert of newly commissioned works for Chinese chamber ensemble.
Using music to “map” Shanghai’s intangible cultural heritage, the programme featured ten newly composed works by ten composers, each inspired by a different element of the city’s local intangible cultural traditions.
Earlier, on 29 May, the same programme and performers appeared at Shanghai’s Wanping Theatre as part of a public-benefit performance initiative presented by the Department of Composition and Conducting of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Marking the creative team’s first venture into community-oriented theatre outreach, the project sought to bring contemporary composition closer to the public and to give back to society through music. Centred on Shanghai’s intangible cultural heritage traditions, the concert embodied the ideal of “creating for the people and singing for the times,” receiving an enthusiastic response from audiences.
Most of the ten featured composers are emerging young voices from the Shanghai Conservatory’s Department of Composition and Conducting. The programme includes:
* Yuan Yuan — Weaving Brocade
* Liu Ruixin — Lantern Festival Night
* Xie Qinwei — Porcelain Patterns I
* Li Yide — Candlelight
* He Jianing — Endless Threads
* Lan Junyi — Brocade Strings
* Lou Jia — Flowing Light
* Shi Zhixuan — Rain Bells
* Li Nixia — Bronze
* Lin Luxin — Boundless: Spirit of Martial Arts
The concert showcases a wide range of traditional Chinese instruments, including pipa, guzheng, yangqin, dizi, xiao, sheng, suona, erhu, ruan, liuqin and percussion. Each ensemble combination is closely tied to a specific item of Shanghai intangible cultural heritage.
* Weaving Brocade for pipa, piano and percussion draws inspiration from Shanghai-style wool embroidery, recreating the metallic shimmer of needles weaving through silk.
* Lantern Festival Night for flute, sheng, guzheng, yangqin and percussion evokes the famed Yuyuan Lantern Festival, reimagining the poetic scene of “trees of flowers blooming in the night wind”.
* Porcelain Patterns I for pipa, guzheng and percussion is inspired by Shanghai’s traditional ceramic restoration techniques and incorporates the folk tune Little Bench.
* Candlelight for bamboo flute, suona, pipa and piano draws on the traditional gongs-and-drums storytelling art of Nanhui, using rhythmic patterns transmitted directly by heritage practitioners.
* Endless Threads for percussion and piano takes inspiration from Mianquan martial arts, embedding hidden musical motifs within its pitch structure.
* Brocade Strings for Chinese chamber ensemble reflects the delicate elegance of Songjiang’s Shijin gong-and-drum tradition, capturing the refined softness associated with Jiangnan culture.
* Flowing Light for ruan and piano explores the folk beliefs surrounding the Little White Dragon of Jinshan, imagining a dance between the sun deity Xihe and water spirits.
* Rain Bells for liuqin and accordion takes its cue from Jiading bamboo carving and musically depicts Emperor Xuanzong of Tang remembering Yang Guifei amid falling rain.
* Bronze for sheng, guzheng and percussion is inspired by the bronze craftsmanship of the Shanghai Museum, conjuring the fierce imagery of ancient taotie motifs.
* Boundless: Spirit of Martial Arts for Chinese chamber ensemble pays tribute to Jingwu martial arts culture, transcending sectarian traditions and transforming martial movement into musical expression.
For general audiences, the most immediate appeal of the concert lies in the vivid imagery and storytelling behind each piece. Flickering candle flames in Candlelight, the crisp sound of silver needles touching silk in Weaving Brocade, or the wistful ringing of rain-soaked carriage bells in Rain Bells all create scenes that listeners can instantly picture and emotionally connect with.
Each composition is also accompanied by a re-imagined digital visual projections, revamped from the first show last year. Images of traditional craftsmanship, historic streets illuminated by lantern festivals, and ancient bronze motifs will flow across the screen in synchronisation with the music, creating an immersive dialogue between sound and image.
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