Nothing could be better than having the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg close the Sixth Beijing Music Festival.

Wednesday's closing concert under the baton of the celebrated conductor Christoph Eschenbach at Poly Theater was the most thrilling one among all of the 16 concerts in this year's festival which was badly affected by the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic earlier this year.

Eschenbach is a real superstar who brought local classical music fans an orchestra with a rich and original German flavor. The strings presented a very German sound, especially in the Brahms' Symphony No 1 in C Minor.

The enthusiastic audience rewarded him with a hearty "Bravo," and the rhythmic applause did not stop until the conductor gave the encore of Brahms' "Hungarian Dance No 5" and Dvorak's "Slavonic Dance."

"I had not expected the conductor would be so amazing, though I have heard some of his CDs. He is so delicate and commands all parts of the orchestra perfectly," said Yang Yang, assistant director of the Beijing Music Festival and the China Philharmonic Orchestra.

"He is one of the few pianist-turned conductors who really have a sense of the baton," Yang said after the concert.

The other star of that evening was the pianist Tzimon Barto who played Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No 3 in D Minor." He freely displayed the virtuosic hurdles and lengthy cadenzas in the piece.

The US pianist looks as strong as Arnold Schwarzenegger, but played some tunes in an unexpectedly soft and subtle way.

His encore of Bach's "Piano Concerto No 1" and a dynamic short piece by Scott Joplin also won a good response.

Both musicians are admirers of Chinese culture.

Barto told China's press before the concert that he has great interest in Chinese culture since he watched a Peking Opera performance in the United States when he was young.

He said he keeps reading Chinese poems in English translation every morning and now is reading "Yi Jing (The Book of Changes)." Qu Yuan (339-278 BC) and Li Bai (AD 701-762) are his favorite Chinese poets.

While Eschenbach said since his first visit to China many years ago, he has looked forward to returning. "Chinese culture is one of the oldest cultures in the world and has brought much to mankind. I respect your culture and hope to bring you a little gift that is our music which belongs to our culture," he said.

So at the concert, he specially chose music by Brahms who was from the home city of the orchestra.

Successful year

Two days before the Sixth Beijing Music Festival raised its curtain on October 17, China has proved its major role in space technology by sending an astronaut into space.

However, as what the famous US composer John Corigliano said at the press conference for the opening concert: "A great society must have events of science and technology, meanwhile, a great society should not forget arts and music."

The composer whose "Red Violin Chaconne" was performed at the opening concert by the China Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Klaus Weise, said: "The Beijing Music Festival is such a music event that enriches local people's lives as well as letting the world know the other side of Beijing and China."

Corigliano's evaluation is exactly what the annual festival aims to achieve.

Although affected by SARS, this year's festival has only 16 concerts and less big names comparing than the previous years, it was still on a high level and lived up to most fans' expectations.

"Every festival has a bumper harvest year and a so-so year," said Chen Zhiyin, senior editor of the Beijing-based journal Music Week.

"The festival still offered programs, such as Guo Wenjing's chamber opera, which has helped broaden local audience's horizons. And some concerts such as the opera by La Fenice, Gidon Kremer's recital and the closing concert were highlights of the event," said Lun Bing, music critic of the Beijing Youth Daily.

Despite the negative impact of SARS, the working team directed by Yu Long still arranged a variety of programs which included opera, symphonic concerts, chamber music, recitals, traditional Chinese music and special concerts for children.

Besides those mentioned above, the Shanghai Quartet's performed some quartets on Tuesday arranged from Chinese folk melodies and Beethoven's "Razumosky," a piece which has been rarely performed in China.

Li Xingting's guqin improvisation concert was a special feature of the classic music festival.

Fast-growing event

Apart from every year's concerts , the Beijing Music Festival has developed a network linking the world famous orchestras, musicians and works as an efficient go-between in the world classical music scene between the Chinese musicians and their international counterparts.

Achim Dobschall, managing director of the NDR orchestra, told China Daily, he heard of the festival from the Polish conductor Krzysztof Penderecki, the permanent guest conductor of the NDR, and brought the NDR orchestra to Beijing partly upon Penderecki's recommendation.

Penderecki is also the guest conductor of the China Philharmonic Orchestra and has performed at the Beijing Music Festival several times.

The Funds Management Board and the International Advisory Board were established this year to improve the overall organization of the festival.

"The festival was a great success from the very beginning and it is growing well and fast both in terms of management and artistic quality. And I believe it will develop more rapidly and smoothly as each functional branch is improved," said Taeko Millet, the former chairperson of the Lady's Committee of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, who has been involved in the festival in 1998 and now is a member of the International Advisory Board.

"My job is to present a professional and international festival. And I would be confident enough to say we have brought the Beijing classic music fans a mature world-class festival," said Yu Long, artistic director and founding member of the festival.

"We did have difficulty this year. But thanks to the efforts of our working team, we maintained our artistic standards and have even improved our management in the face of this crisis," he said.

The artistic director's ambitious and confident view was echoed by the foreigner partners involved in the festival.

"I really respect the Beijing Music Festival, which is certainly a major world festival. Yu and his team have devoted themselves for six years to achieve this," said J Wray Armstrong, Director of Development of IMG Artists.

"I personally hope the festival will get a little bit larger, because, as far as I know, so many musicians are trying to perform here," Armstrong said.

"Although it is only 6-year-old, the festival has a balanced program and very professional management. Yes, this year is a little bit difficult, but everybody has had a difficult year. Anyway, I am sure the festival has a good bright future," he said.

However, the Beijing's audience is always picky. An anonymous concert-goer said, he has been a loyal member of the festival audience since it started in 1998, but in the sixth year, he did not see anything new. And he suggests that some new programs are added.

It could be because that different people might have different interpretations of what is "new" and each artistic director has his own vision.

"The audience is getting increasingly demanding. As more and more masters and big orchestras visit China through various channels, the festival is facing great challenges," said Chen.

Yu acknowledges he is challenging himself and promises the festival will bounce back next year with about 30 concerts and a long list of superstars.

Meanwhile, he reveals he will maintain the festival's Chinese characteristics by inviting more superstars with Chinese origin to the festival.

He also hopes to bring more big names, for instance Riccardo Muti with La Scala, to the Beijing Music Festival.

Now what worries him is the box-office. The festival itself has not established an efficient ticket-selling system.

To ensure a profit, the tickets agent sold too many tickets to the companies who give the tickets to their customers as gifts. The result is that some of those who received free tickets left their seats empty while real fans could not buy tickets.

(China Daily November 7, 2003)