Writing history into music is nothing new. Bartok and Kodaly celebrated the merging of Buda with Pest; Leonard Bernstein the American bicentennial; Prokofiev the end of the Second World War – and there must be hundreds of similar musical celebrations. Tan Dun’s Symphony 1997 marks an event that, even by the time this review appears, will still be ringing in people’s ears. The reunification of Hong Kong with China has inspired numerous commissions of one sort or another, Dun’s Symphony 1997 being among them. However, few will have utilized musical instruments that date back 2,400 years. The bianzhong is a family of tuned bells that, collectively, spans a five-octave range. They were discovered in an ancient tomb that was excavated as recently as 1978 and Dun’s symphony gives them pride of place. In “Heaven” (the symphony’s first main episode), the bianzhong’s grandeur “rises from the earth’s grave”, though their presence is scarcely less imposing elsewhere.
Symphony 1997 opens and closes with a simple, touching “Song of Peace”. It is cast in three sections (“Heaven”, “Earth” and “Mankind”), the solo cello serving a function that is similar to (if somewhat busier than) the role it plays within Bernstein’s Mass – in other words, a commentator through wordless song. “Water” (track 8) is a sub-division of “Earth” and includes a demonstrative solo cadenza reminiscent of the finale from Kodaly’s Op. 8 Solo Sonata, whereas the following track has the orchestra slowly re-enter like some huge, sonorous community. Needless to say, Yo-Yo Ma’s playing has great panache and intensity.
“Earth” represents Dun at his most characteristically inventive, but elsewhere dominant influences include Chinese popular music, various European late-romantics, Hindemith (part of the “Dragon Dance” from “Heaven”, at 2'33'' into track 3), Stravinsky and Varese. There are also reminiscences of Beethoven (a quotation from “Ode to Joy”) and Puccini (an old love-song used in Turandot). Symphony 1997 is a highly theatrical, lavishly scored montage, frequently rhythmic, richly atmospheric and with merging styles that reflect both China and the neighbour that has once again become family.'