The Chinese city of Shenzhen is vying with its rival Shanghai for cultural and economic supremacy. With 8 per cent of its population dollar millionaires, Deng Xiaoping’s showpiece economic zone now boasts a vast museum, sports complex, a state-of-the-art concert hall — and China’s first ever Piano Concerto Competition. As a keen observer of Asia’s infatuation with Western classical music, I had to be there.
The competition, which has prize money worth $30,000 plus the promise of concert engagements with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, is the brainchild of Dan Xiaoyi, the city’s foremost piano professor. He’s become something of a local hero in that his students have been scooping up top awards for their performances around the world. A smattering of Koreans and Europeans joined the 23 Chinese contestants, who performed last month in front of a specially selected international jury in Shenzhen’s Grand Theatre.
The opening ceremony offered a dazzling display of what the Chinese do best, not least of which is extravagant courtesy. Amused to be described as ‘First Secretary of the BBC’, I settled down to watch synchronised song-and-dance routines that blended Broadway with the North Korean style of Kim Jong-Il. Back at the hotel, my head was still ringing with the sight and sound of girls in tails tap-dancing to Beethoven’s Ode to Joy.
The West has long assumed that Asian pianists are no more than clones, with dazzling technique but no substance or style; hardly one of us, old boy. The stereotype is not entirely unfair: Chinese culture is handed down orally, and so Western classical music is assimilated ‘parrot fashion’, students slavishly following recorded performances of the greats with diligent extremes of speed and technical discipline but with theoretical knowledge so weak they can scarcely tell the difference between a rondo and a fugue.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in