Most concert-goers will agree that Chien has raised his orchestra's profile in spectacular fashion. He told me that if he had to choose only one success to be proud of it would be the NSO's having "found its position in Taiwan." Reading between the lines, this can only mean that it's now recognized as the nation's premier orchestra.
Leading the NSO hasn't been all plain sailing. There was a contentious interlude in the middle of Chien's tenure when some musicians had their contracts terminated following a re-auditioning process, and they called a widely-reported press conference in protest. But Chien's time on the rostrum has nonetheless been largely a success story.
Perhaps what's most interesting is what Chien didn't say about his future. He may be leaving to work full-time with a famous European opera company, but the freedom he had in Taipei to stage anything he chose whenever he liked won't be duplicated there. He'll be part of an organization that has most of the great classics already in its repertoire, rather than the leader of a pioneering band presenting major works for the first time in what is in many ways still virgin territory. His successor at the NSO will still be in the enviable position of having a huge amount of work new to Taiwan, including new operas, to offer.
"To achieve something is hard," Chien said. "But to maintain that achievement is even more difficult. I hope the NSO will continue developing, moving on from what it has achieved in the first 20 years of its history."
But the management's hesitation in making a decision about his successor is indicative at a deep level. Appointing an untried young Taiwanese back in 2001 was an obvious gamble. That time it paid off, and Chien proved a winner. To bring off a comparable move this time round, however, will be no easy matter. Chien stretched the wings of the NSO even as he stretched his own, and in the process enormously enriched the nation's musical life. When comes such another?
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