 Hello and welcome to Music and More where we talk about great music with great musicians while having a lot of fun. My name is Elliot Moore and I'm the conductor of the Longmont Symphony Orchestra. We have got a great show lined up for you today. We're going to be speaking with the world-renowned composer Bright Sheng. Also, we're going to have a performance from 2017 of Dvorak's New World Symphony, The Finale. Also, we're going to continue to take a closer look at how a conductor studies a score in preparation to conduct it. But first, as you can tell, I am not coming to you today from my home, but rather from one of my all-time favorite establishments here in Longmont. Please join me at La Vita Bella. I have always loved La Vita Bella here in Longmont. It is one of my all-time favorite restaurants. And also, it reminds me so much of all the places that I used to go to in Switzerland. It is a wonderful place to dine. Todd, I'm doing great. How are you doing? Great. Thanks for coming in again. Yeah, of course. Some wonderful new dishes here that you might want to look at. And I guess I'll start you with your usual appetizer. I'll take the carpaccio. Coming right up, sir. Thank you very much. I come here all the time to study my music. But because I'm the only person here right now, I can forego wearing my mask and talk to you all about how I study a score. Once I've marked the harmonies, the next thing that I do is I put in all of the bowings. It's a very time-consuming task to put in all of these bowings to bow each and every single string part. And there's a lot that goes into it. And in fact, maybe now is a good time to explain a few fundamental things about how you bow. Here is a down bow. And here is an up bow. And when you have a slur, you play many notes under one bow like this. That's a slur on a down bow. And here's a slur on an up bow. And a down bow tends to get softer. And an up bow tends to get louder. And that's because you have more weight in your hand here. And so when you're at this part of the bow, at the tip of the bow, it tends to be softer because you don't have as much weight. You have to pronate a little bit more. That's basically how bowings work. If there are no slurs, then it's assumed that all the notes are separated starting down. Like that. Here it is a little bit slurred. That just gives a little bit of an idea between slurs and ups and downs. Then there are some tricks. For example, what happens if I want something to be very powerful and emphatic? I could go like this. But I could actually do all downs too. Here is that same music played with all downs. Do you see how that becomes more emphatic? So there are some tricks that also you can do with the bow. Knowing how bowings work is critical for how a conductor can shape their performance. Now I am going to begin actually putting the bowings into my score. Here we go. Oh, thank you so much, Todd. I really appreciate it. Hey, I thought we were alone today. We should be, as much as I know. You know, I thought I heard some really heavy footsteps. Do you know if anyone else is in here? Do you want to maybe investigate? Listen, you do that. I'm going to keep going with my bowings. Thanks, Todd. I'll secure the premises. Thanks. I appreciate it. Sir? Excuse me, sir, how did you get in the building? Sir? Excuse me, sir? Are they told me? Are they told me in my restaurant? This is unbelievable. This is alive. I can't believe it. Where can I get you? Hungry! I've got some incredible special dishes, barmed to a table. Farm to a table? What else would it be? I mean, doesn't come from a factory. Wow. Some things have changed since the 1800s. I have something special for you. I'm going to write it up. And that wraps up how bowings impact the symphonic work. Now, a word from our sponsor. Are they told me? I hope you enjoyed your meal. Oh, wunderbar. Fantastic. I love to hear that. Music to my ears. And here's the fun part. Here is your bill. Oh! With cash or credit card. Oh! Mein! Ich habe kein Geld! Where are they? Please, when you put this, if it organizes, just like you do with all your great compositions, I'm sure you'll find this the most simple steps. I'll be back to check on you. What are you doing? This is not playtime. It's work time. Get back to work. I can't hear you. Please, when you're favorite, and put the glasses right in there, and you can just watch it. Thank you. Maestro Breitscheng is regarded as one of the foremost composers of our lifetime. His works have been performed all throughout North America, Europe, as well as in Asia. The ensembles that have commissioned some of his works include such ensembles like the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, just to name a few. Also, his collaborators have included such people like Leonard Bernstein and Yo-Yo Ma, Kurt Mazur, as well as Michael Tilson Thomas. It is my distinct pleasure to welcome Maestro Breitscheng to Music and More. Well, Breitscheng, thank you so much for joining us. It's an honor to have you on Music and More, so thank you for joining us. And how are you doing? I'm okay with, you know, given all the situations. I can't just spend a lot of time with my family, otherwise I wouldn't. Normally my schedule is about six months on the road somewhere. You were born in China. You have spent most of your adult life in the United States. And I'm wondering how you've been able to find your musical voice, given these two very different places where that are such a part of you. Can you talk about how you've managed to do that? Would you like to long answer or short answer? Well, let's go with the long one. I think it's fascinating to tell you the truth. Well, let me start with a short answer. The short answer is just like me. I'm talking English and I'm bilingual. I can watch a Chinese movie and talking to you in English on the phone. And get both. And it took me a while to get there, of course. When I first came, I need to translate a sentence in Chinese and into English before I could speak. So that goes with the Western and Chinese music. They're quite different, but there are a lot of things in common. And so what I end up doing is, what I would like to call that by now, I feel that I'm 100% Chinese and 100% American. So in a way, in the most humble way, that because I consider myself have a deep understanding of both cultures. And through years of studying and continuously studying. And that, to me, and all these knowledge and life experience that filter through me, whatever comes out, comes out. I don't really think too much about this is sounding too Chinese or too Western. I want it more Western sounding. I want it more Chinese. I just think when I write, I just think whatever comes out. I, as an audience member, I would love this, the music. I would get thrilled to hear this music. And I was fortunate because I was at Lener Bernstein, who was my teacher and mentor, and did that, the same to me. I'm wondering if you can talk to us a little bit about what you got from Lener Bernstein, and if you'd be willing to share maybe a funny story or two about him that maybe we don't know from any books. I don't know if I can share a funny story. There are funny stories, but to me, when he taught me first to be a, actually first to be a human being and then a musician. And then you are a composer, you're a conductor, you're a pianist, which I, you know, he did, and I tried to do all three. I think it's more important to understand the common ground being a human and as an artist, and its function to the society. You know, there is a story now that just occurred to me. This is, I met him and I was studying with him periodically whenever he was in town. And then I had my first break in New York. I had nothing to do with Lenny, actually another conductor, Gerard Schwartz, who had been champion of my music in the early days, still to this day. And he had a group in New York, a new music group called Music Today. He commissioned my first New York commission. I was still a student at Columbia University, working on my doctorate. He wanted a piece and I wrote a small 13 instrument piece. At the time, everybody was writing a piece for 13 instruments. You know, that was kind of the chamber, they have Schoenberg and so on and so forth. I wrote the piece and I got my first New York Times review, which is a favorable review by John Rockwell. And it's not a glorifying review, but it's a very positive review. So I was kind of happy and Lenny called me and said, oh, I read your review. Oh, you are famous now. I would like to hear the piece. So I brought the score, I brought the recording, cassette tape and I was happy to show him kind of a little bit elated, so to speak. And I played the recording and he ended the silence. He didn't praise, he didn't say anything about whether the piece good or bad. And then he said, for whom it is written? I said, you know, I said to myself, what do you mean? Because this is the piece I was commissioned and, you know, I said, I don't know how to answer this question. He said, well, what is this for? Did you write this piece for the conductor, Gerard Schwartz or you write for the audience or for the New York Times critic or for the musicians, your music friend or for your composer friends or for your teacher at Columbia or for yourself for whom it is written. And he took out a red pencil to cover this line. I still have the cover. And that was a very important question. It took me a long time to figure it out. What really he meant. So to me, he was asking a very important question because when I first came to New York, I was, you know, penniless, no language, no money and not much. It's kind of a spotty music education. Although, my professor in Shanghai probably thought that was a very discriminating comment. But it is because there was, you know, western music was quite different taught in China. It's like the Chinese food you eat here. So it's not quite when you go to China. So it's a big eye-opening for me. And then I met that who was the pinnacle of classical music and he taught me a lot of things. So I was learning all this and it was struggling, you know. And then here I go, have my first break. In other words, my first time my music was played in the U.S. by professional musicians. And, you know, they paid for everything for my piece to write. So then I was, in another way, I was supported as an artist. And the question is now what do you do? He was asking what would you do in return? In other words, for whom it is written? So to me I think artists now, now I believe that artists have people like you, a performer too, has a responsibility to the society. And that's very important because once you have that, that doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter what social condition you are, circumstances, a pandemic, a post-pandemic, pre-pandemic. It doesn't really matter. What is your responsibility? Now we know we argue the great art society should support arts. And now they do. You got your commission, whether it's public or private, it doesn't matter. Society supported you. What is your what is your responsibility now? In return to the support. So that question stayed with me for all those years and sort of guided me for my professional life as a composer, pianist or conductor. Everything I do in music. In so many ways, we're all the same. We all have hopes, aspirations, dreams, fears. We all want love. And in many ways, what we're talking about or what you've been talking about is this how culture the role that culture plays in connecting us all. Well, culture is very important. That is part of the, I think the most important part of a civilization without culture you could have a great country, but it becomes it just not civilized simply. I want to change TAC a little bit here. Last year I was working with a very talented youth orchestra in the region and a student came up to me in the break and he asked me, he said do you have any advice, of course me, somebody who wants to become a composer? And so I gave him my answer, but I'm wondering what your answer would be to you know, let's say a high school aged student who's saying to you I'd like to become a composer. What advice do you have? I would say terrific. Then I'll ask what kind of music, what kind of composer, whose music do you admire? What kind of music you would like to write? You might not be able to write at this moment. It's just the same thing with a conductor or a pianist. Whom do you want to be? You want to be Martha Arbridge. You want to be Lang Lang. If you set up those goals and we can achieve that, I help you. There is a specific track will help you to get there with a lot of work and guidance and TLC. I feel like we know, you and I know and I think a lot of people that are watching this show, they have an idea sort of how American orchestras are doing during the pandemic. What I'm curious about is how are Chinese orchestras doing during the pandemic? Are things beginning to lift now in China in terms of audiences being able to come to performances? Is that very far off? Do you know about that? In China orchestras are basically back to normal. Not completely normal. They reduce seasons. I have a couple of commissions, co-commissions with Chinese orchestras and the premiere has been postponed. Part of the reason is foreigners now they really don't work with international artists because of the quarantine requirement and all that. But I think by the end of this year things are going to improve. Things will open up. But they are doing concerts for sure. In a limited way they don't have foreign orchestras and visiting orchestras and they don't travel much. So it's still very cautious. We're kind of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel which is wonderful. I know that we're all so excited to get back to making music in person instead of doing things over Zoom sessions. But let me at least express to you how grateful I am that you were on the TV show and we're looking forward to hearing some of your music and hopefully we'll be able to get you down here in Longmont before too long. So thank you so much Bray. I look forward to that day. Thank you. In the spirit of Bray Chang's music being a fusion between American and Chinese culture I thought that I would play another work that is a fusion of that composer's homeland which is Anthony Dvorak's The Czech Republic and American culture. And in his Ninth Symphony he actually uses the song of Hiawatha, the poem as the basis for his entire Ninth Symphony. Here is a recording from 2017 of the Longmont Symphony Orchestra performing the finale of Dvorak's Ninth Symphony from the New World.