a last minute concert

I can't explain it, but ever since I returned from my holiday, the sight of couples on the streets don't bite at me as much as before. And it's not that my life has changed very much. The jet-lag might have temporarily sapped my energy for angsting and moping. I don't know. What's bothers me more is the noise and the throngs of humans in the malls. It gets claustrophobic and nerve-wrecking. I don't believe they want to grow it to 6.5 million when it's so bad with 4 million. I'm moving out of here eventually. The people can't really be blamed for crowding up the malls. There aren't any good spots around here to hang out in anyway. With the subway stations nearby and consumerism working its ways, most of us just hit the malls out of habit.

It was a last minute decision to hit the concert hall last night. I considered it a relief from the human hordes on a Saturday night. The pre-intermission programme saw a mix of the traditional and the contemporary. "Sha Di-er Chuan Qi" was my favorite amongst them. What were traditional Xinjiang tunes were woven into a tapestry threaded by modern-sounding harmonies. It ended the first-half of an otherwise quite traditional, staid, though rather impeccably performed programme.

My attention was drawn to the Jinghu players during the second half, which featured a Jing opera vocalist. The Jinghu players seemed slightly uncoordinated at first, but they played well enough for me to start to groove along. It's the first time I actually enjoyed Jinghu solos, and I think they got it right somewhere.

The final programme for the evening was "Nan Wang De Puo Shui Jie", composed by Liu Wen Jin. The use of a female choral ensemble added a rather refreshing spin to the music. Those few bars of choral parts, even if they were just chords, enlivened the piece enough that I was quite moved. I've never attended choral performances, but I might now. The concert ended on a jovial note with the encore item "Xi Xun Chuan Bian Zhai", a work my secondary school orchestra had performed years back.

I'm only acquainted with very few of the orchestra's musicians, and one of those was the conductor in the orchestra I was in. On stage, he appears withdrawn and full of unspoken burdens amongst his fellow musicians who are all smiles and proud at the conclusion of another well-performed concert. I became aware of some personal issues of his through an interview on TV I caught by chance many years ago. That which I can logically understand but not emphatise. I wish I knew what's bothering him now, but I don't have the right to. I think it would please him to know that I was part of an orchestra he conducted, and that he takes some credit for my support today for the music he has always been passionate about.

The jet-lag's going away, thankfully. Last night's concert pushed my sleeping hours later into the night so I didn't wake up at 2am this morning. I should feel better at work next week. And there's the star party expedition to look forward to next weekend!