In the afternoon of Sept. 22nd, 2007, the worldwide renowned pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim came to the concert hall of the Conservatory, accompanied by Lang Lang, the pianist, one of his students and our alumni. His coming was awaited for a long time by the professors and students of the Central Conservatory of Music. He presented a fascinating master class on conducting for the professors and students in this afternoon.
At 2pm, Barenboim arrived at the concert hall of CCOM, Professor Wang Cizhao, the President of CCOM, moved a step forward to welcome Barenboim with a warm handshake and held Lang Lang in a warm embrace. When the maestro walked into the concert hall, hundreds of audiences stood up with the warmest applause and cheers. As one of the major educational events of the Tenth Beijing Music Festival, this master class had drawn attentions from many medias.
When Barenboim stepped on the stage, he first apologized for his delay owing to the rehearsal and said, "Today, I am very happy to have this chance to visit the Central Conservatory of Music," he also asked Lang Lang to be on the stage and spoke to the public humorously that "Lang Lang is not a pianist today but my interpreter." Then, President Wang gave a short welcoming speech and awarded the Certificate of "The Honorary Professor of the Central Conservatory of Music" to Barenboim. Maestro expressed his wish to return here and deserve this honor through his master class and lectures. President Wang also expressed his appreciation for the great supports on the master class from the Organizing Committee of Beijing Music Festival and Mr. Yu Long, the musical director of the BME.
At the beginning of the master class, Li Haoran, the junior student of conducting department, conducted China Youth Symphony Orchestra of CCOM to play an excerpt of Debussy's La Mer. When the orchestra had done this excerpt, Barenboim at first heaped praise on the high level of the orchestra and said undoubtedly, "Your orchestra is better than Berlin Conservatory's orchestra." All the young musicians of the orchestra were delighted. The audiences also applauded with warm congratulation for their performance. Barenboim pointed in further that conducting student understood the piece very well and showed his great interest in listening to the rest part of La Mer. After that, he emphasized three aspects: the first point is the timing of beginning and ending along with every dynamic change in this composition; the second point is the rich levels of hand gestures; and the last point is the relaxed shapes (without tense feeling) of hand gestures. Barenboim demonstrated every movement for the student and encouraged him and audiences to experience the comprehensive meanings from each of his movement.
The second piece for the master class was the excerpt from the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 conducted by Xia Xiaotang, the young professor of conducting department. Barenboim praised him for his high standard and said, "From the perspective of conducting major, you don’t need any instructions." Mr. Xia expressed his thanks for the maestro's words. Then, Barenboim gave a very detailed interpretation on the aspects of string instrument’s bowing, the tension and relaxation of music phrases, and playing skills of French horn and harp. He emphasized in further that the purpose of making these changes was to improve the slightly husky sound quality.
Through the demonstrations of these two compositions, the audiences could feel that Barenboim is to pursue very precise and detailed interpretation for the music. He instructed every detail, from the crescendo on different levels during a long section to all the playing skills of each instrument within one short phrase, with great patience until the player could reach his requirements. In the class, he showed very rich expressions. Sometimes, he was calm as the water in a quite lake; sometimes, he showed great passion; and sometimes, he was concentrating on the listening. He even "performed" a part of Symphony No.5 during the class. This sixty-year old artist was so natural and sincere in front of his art. He merged himself into the music.
The master class lasted almost two hours. Barenboim didn't stay for a longer time because he came even without having lunch and had to prepare for his performance in the evening. He left along with audiences' enthusiastic applauses and flowers. However, he and his class give us more speculation and afterglow.
In the Guestbook of CCOM, Barenboim autographed: "With all good wishes and congratulations on a wonderful orchestra."
