St John’s Smith Square was in party mood with a concert to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of China-UK Ambassadorial Diplomatic Relations and the 73 anniversary of the People’s Republic of China.A concert in which the young pianist/composer Yuanfan Yang played movements from his third and fourth concertos also performing solo piano pieces and accompanying Yue Guo with his extraordinary Chinese bamboo ‘Di-Zi’ flutes.
Two choirs performed firstly a work by John Rutter ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’in which Yuanfan added some magic sounds on the piano.Yuanfan’s own work ‘Hometown Far Away’ was performed by joint choirs and orchestra in a final triumphant outpouring of joyous music making.
The beauty of Yuanfan’s playing was mirrored in the joyous atmosphere that was created by the Berlin Metropolitan Orchestra under George Hlawiczka and the two choirs seated in the gallery above the orchestra.Apollo Premadasa at only eight years old is not only a composer but also a cellist,trombonist,percussionist and pianist too.As the programme said far more poetically than I could ever do :’Apollo’s soul belongs to music and shares his passion for this art form and the feelings towards the world we live in via his performing and composing’
Yuanfan too showed his remarkable gifts at a very early age.His mother tells me of being complimented by another mother ,at a children six year old birthday party, on how well her son played the piano and wanted the name of his teacher for her child too.’But he does not play the piano’ she exclaimed ‘and we do not have a piano in the house!’ Genius shows itself in many mysterious ways .Yuanfan now is receiving accolades world wide for his superlatively intelligent and sensitive artistry as a pianist and also as a creative artist.Yuanfan lives in a world of his own ,a world of wondrous beauty and discovery.
Disputes and politics are not part of this Eutopia and as the distinguished speaker said today:’It is music that will draw us all together .It is the universal language ‘
Words are dangerous because they cannot express the real soul and understanding that can exist only in sounds.Fou Ts’ong ,the great Chinese pianist,surprised everyone in Warsaw when he won the top prize for his performances of the Mazurkas,the national dance of Poland.’But it is the same soul and feeling expressed in Chinese poetry’ ……the heart of Chopin is universal and beats with the same warmth and understanding in every soul.One just has to try to share the universal message captured within to realise it is this sentiment which will unite us in the end.
Some superlative playing of great authority from Yuanfan playing his fourth concerto.A beautifully melodic work that Yuanfan embellished with arabesques over the entire range of the keyboard.Yuanfan’s own work ‘Waves’ was played with great virtuosity and a kaleidoscopic sense of colour.Strangely enough his third concerto was much more complex and less melodic than the fourth.The splendid orchestra also performed the second movement of the Symphony 1 War Child written by the eight year old Apollo Premadasa.
Mention should be made of Yuanfan’s extraordinary improvisatory skills.Asking the audience for a melody and also a style they would like to chose he proceeded to astonish with a improvised virtuoso performance that astonished and amazed .
https://christopheraxworthymusiccommentary.com/2021/09/06/yuanfan-yang-in-paradise/
ChristopherAxworthy-MusicCommentary 