Taiwan is a place that has a distinct effect on certain people. They come here for a short spell of work, like it, sign on for another stint, and end up staying for life. Henry Mazer was just such a person.
Is it the warm hearts of the Taiwanese (frequently commented on in a wide variety of contexts), the combination, in the cities at least, of a modern lifestyle with strong traditional elements, the high mountains and warm, if sometimes dramatic, weather, or simply a feeling for the island's constant unexpectedness, something new round every corner?
In Mazer's case it may have been some of these things, but in addition it was something else -- a strong admiration for the level of classical music here, both in education and performance.
I once asked the head of the Asian Youth Orchestra -- an orchestra set up every summer and consisting of young musicians from all over Asia -- why it contained more instrumentalists from Taiwan than from any other Asian country. "Because they're the best," he replied. "Auditions are completely open, and in many of the categories the Taiwanese were just better than any of the others who applied." This, incidentally, included Japan, which has six times as many people as Taiwan.
Mazer made it his mission to show this high quality to the world, and he succeeded. When he took an orchestra to Vienna, high temple of the classical tradition, his musicians were called "a wonder of Taiwan." And in the US in 1995 the music critic of the Boston Globe praised the performers' "glowing sound," comparing Mazer himself to Leonard Bernstein.
Even more extraordinary, when Mazer took some of these players to the US in 1990 a Chicago music critic wrote they were "one of the finest groups of musicians I have ever heard." And in Vancouver the same ensemble was praised for its "wonderful sound, a rich, romantic singing."
These two fine CDs contain a recording of a concert Mazer conducted in Taipei's National Concert Hall in November 2000, now issued by the orchestra in memory of its late conductor. The Taipei Philharmonic is a "pickup" orchestra, meaning that it consists of musicians from different orchestras, plus various individuals, who come together to play on specific occasions, usually just a few times a year. The result can be a lineup that's in fact better than any of the regular orchestras.
The main works included on these CDs are Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp, with local soloists Hwei-Jin Liu (flute) and Sophie Clavel (harp), and Richard Strauss' Don Quixote, with cellist Joan Spergel-Pipkin, Shien-Ta Su (violin) and Chen-Hung Ho (viola). Smetana's exercise in landscape painting, Moldau, acts as an overture.
These are altogether marvelous items. The Mozart concerto is played with exactly the combination of stylish zest and concealed feeling this composer requires, with contains great performances from both soloists.
But pride of place must go to Strauss' Don Quixote, given here a truly magnificent rendering. In places it almost moved me to tears. The closing Death of Don Quixote section is intensely moving. There the playing is hushed, the sound velvety, and the subdued brass chords as the moment of death approaches perfectly judged, as is a clarinet phrase just beforehand. The applause at the end shows the audience clearly found it powerful and evocative as well.
This is live music-making of the very best kind. Inevitably there are clicks and clunks here and there -- someone's score falling off the music stand, perhaps -- that wouldn't be heard in the concert hall but are unfortunately magnified by on-stage microphones. And there are moments of playing that a soloist might want to re-record in a studio version. But what you get in recompense is the incomparable feeling of a live performance.
These are CDs to be treasured by anyone who loves music and loves Taiwan. The concert ends with Joe Che-Yi Lee's Formosa Caprice, a five minute melodic rhapsody that, you sense, meant a lot to Mazer, with its strong sense -- simultaneously pastoral and patriotic, Western and Chinese -- of the island he made his home for 17 years.
Mazer worked in Taiwan from 1985, having previously been Associate Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the famous George Solti. He never regretted his decision to come here and nurture the Taipei Sinfonietta (the smaller version of the Philharmonic). "This wonderful island has given me the best musical experience of my life," he once said.
There are other recordings privately made by local orchestras. The Taipei Symphony Orchestra, for instance, under their musical director Felix Chiu-Sen Chen, not long ago released an excellent version of Brahms' Symphony No. 1. The Taiwanese don't always realize just how good their local classical musicians are. One way of finding out would be to listen to this CD.
In other contexts it seems as if the essence of the Taiwanese soul is pure kitsch. But this is not at all the feeling these CDs give. And of course the Taiwanese classical music world as a whole is something very different.
In conclusion, I enjoyed these recordings of Mazer's as much as anything I've heard for a long time. Taiwanese people sometimes express an unwillingness to believe they can do things as well as Westerners. It's a view that's usually totally misplaced, and very often the exact opposite of the truth. But maybe this characteristic modesty of the Taiwanese is part of what so enamored an illustrious conductor to this ever-surprising island and its altogether exceptional people.
For details of how to obtain these CDs, contact the Taipei Sinfonietta & Philharmonic Orchestra at tel (02) 2397-0979, fax (02) 2395-1124, or visit their Web site at http://www.tspo.org.tw.
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