On Oct. 21, 2006, the Shriver Hall Concert Series welcomed world-renowned pipa player, Wu Man, to the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu Man has since carried the pipa's influence across the world. The first recipient of a master's degree in pipa from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, Wu Man has since participated in many ground breaking performances.
Upon moving to the United States 15 years ago, she began promoting the pipa and classical Chinese Music, and playing the music of renowned contemporary composers. She has worked with a long list of prominent musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma on his Silk Road project, which studies the music and cultural exchange along the ancient trade route.
The pipa is a classical Chinese instrument, a cousin to the European lute. It is held vertically on the lap, while the player uses all the fingers of their right hand to strum the strings. There are four strings and a series of frets along the neck and body of the instrument.
In order to make the pipa more accessible and playable in larger concert settings, the traditionally silk strings are replaced by steel strings. Today players tape plastic fingernails to their fingertips in order to pluck the strings, whereas in the past they used their own grown-out fingernails.
As a prelude to her Baltimore performance, Wu Man took time to address the audience, commenting on the instrument, its history, and the pieces she was playing. The pipa most likely arrived in China from Persia, modern day Iran, by way of the Silk Road. Immensely popular, the pipa became somewhat of a salon instrument, played in private, upper-class homes. In this setting, the style of playing, called "civil" or "lyrical," developed.
Wu Man's first piece, called "Xi Yang Xiao Gu" (Flute and Drum Music at Sunset,) was an example of this style. It is highly contemplative, portraying a landscape, like a painting. A wide palette of sounds colors the mood, from deep, sonorous tones to whistling harmonics. The second piece was, in contrast, in the martial style, depicting an epic battle leading to the foundation of the Han Dynasty. Entitled "Shi Mian Mai Fu" (Ambush Laid on Ten Sides), the music told of how the armies prepared for battle and fought.
Two pieces on the program provided a commentary on the modernization of classical Chinese music and the meeting of Eastern and Western cultures. The first, "Zhongguo Pop," or "China Pop," was written in 2005 by Boston-based composer Anthony Paul DeRitis.
The name "Pop" is appropriate, as many of the sequences brought to mind rock guitar riffs and the music of Led Zeppelin. The composer cited the band U2 as a strong influence on his work, specifically the band's album, Pop.
The strong, consistent rhythm contrasted with the traditional pieces, which employed less structured meter. Wu Man then performed another cross-culturally influenced piece, "Dance of the Yi People."
Written in 1960, the composer, Wang Huiran, was trained in the Western classical music tradition, and Wu Man pointed out that many of the chords and harmonies that are used in this piece are characteristically Western, not to be found in the traditional pieces from the beginning of the performance. At the same time, DeRitis employed many more traditional Chinese chords in his "Pop" composition, compounding this curious exchange of cultural features.
Wu Man finished the first half of the program with her own composition, entitled Collage. Her compositional style is in many ways the precursor to DeRitis' digital sequencing. Wu Man told the audience how she took phrases from a number of traditional tunes, combining them and improvising upon them in order to create, literally, a collage.
Considering the strong improvisational aspect of her playing and the contrasting compositions on the program, Wu Man provided remarkable insight into music on a broader scale. Western music mirrors this development from improvisation to through-composed music.
The second half of the program was the main feature, "Ancient Dances," by Chen Yi and Wu Man. The piece was written for percussion and pipa, inspired by three poems written by the Eighth Century poet Li Bai. The piece was meant to provide the audience with a comprehensive impression of Chinese culture.
The multimedia approach of incorporating a video into the performance is, in itself, laudable, and the dialogue between percussion and pipa added dimension to the previously received notions regarding the pipa. Rather than allowing the audience to contemplate the shapes of the calligraphy on the screen, the video overwhelmed the senses, seeming to subject the audience to a Rorschach test.
The combination of musical and visual arts made for an immensely enjoyable and informative experience. Wu Man has again awed her audience with an immensely rewarding performance.
