As the last note of the last encore faded away at Carnegie Hall here on Sunday, the China National Traditional Orchestra's U.S. tour came to an end with a standing ovation.
The performance was the last of the orchestra's five in the United States. The first three took place at the Kennedy Center in Washington, and the fourth at the Lincoln Center in New York.
Well before the start of the concert, a huge crowd of revelers, defying the frigid weather, swarmed into the venerable New York venue, ready to "rediscover" the oriental music with the performance, which is entitled "Impression: Rediscover Chinese Music."
"I hope to know a little more Chinese culture through the music," said Theresa Forster, one of the audience, who lived in New Jersey and had traveled about one and a half hours to watch the show.
"But it's worth it. The performance is amazing and breathtaking," she said after the concert.
Xi Qiang, head of the orchestra, said that the program employs an innovative storytelling technique with the help of lighting and sets, so as to lure the audience into the stories behind the classical music.
All the eight works, including Blossoms on a Moonlit River in Spring, Chu-Han War and The Moon Reflected on the Er-quan, were chosen on the basis of their popularity and given innovative touches, Xi said in an earlier interview with Xinhua.
As for the title of the program, Jiang Ying, the orchestra's resident composer, said: "The word 'rediscover' means that through our adaption, you will get a new, refreshing feeling toward these centuries-old traditional music works that you have heard many times."
"The whole idea of the program is novelty and innovation. We retrofitted the classics to better cater for modern tastes," she added.
The ensemble only played the concert version of the program at Carnegie Hall as the equipment for multimedia effects cannot be used in the hall.
Still, the performance was enthusiastically received by the audience.
"The duo (of pipa and xiao) is absolutely stunning. They were really beautiful," said Beverly Saadeh, who also came from New Jersey.
