Not here, and not there either
We were to be off to Macau for our last show of this tour. That fell through, and Hong Kong agreed to arrange a replacement concert – very convenient, because our flight back was from Hong Kong. Then, more problems, not least the earthquake aftermath, and Hong Kong cancelled, just a week before our departure. The flight back couldn't be re-jigged. Our management had a very sweaty day examining a very large pear shaped thing on their desk. They didn't cancel, and today, off we go to Hong Kong. A couple of days to kill – the annual dragon boat race, the shops (I don't want to know), the monsoon. The SSO did a memorable fortnight's residency in the Hong Kong festival in '77 – a few of us oldsters remember it well. Hugh MacDonald was on the staff at the Chinese University and invited us out to hear some Chinese classical music. Years later, as our director, he was the impetus behind our two trips to China, and our move to the Glasgow City Halls. He was on the staff at Stirling University in '80, fighting to save the SSO. At that point, there was even talk of moving the band to Stirling! Life in the MacRobert Centre might (might) have been better than extinction. In describing stuff here in China, I'm always slipping into generalisations and caricatures. That's bad. I was dismissive about this place, Shenzhen. Sure, I wouldn't choose to live here, but I don't need to live here. If I was a poor Chinaman from the sticks, and I had an opportunity to work here.........? We all have our own world to live in, an infinitely precious capsule of our own aspirations and fears, and we can only start where life plonked us down. To understand China you have to grasp geographical scale and population densities that are beyond our imagination. Vastly different imperatives operate here. We see the one child policy as a gross imposition by the totalitarian regime, a bullying denial of human rights. Here, whether you like the policy or not, it is a policy that will save you from chaos and death. The burocracy here drives you nuts. Perhaps this is the flip side of a much deeper need. Here, with thousands of years' experience of massive population densities, the need for order is an over-riding imperative. Things must be where you left them, because when things go pear shaped, the pears are very big – and thousands die. Is that just mindless inflexibility? Everyone has their role and their place. This can lead to stifling inefficiency, and petty autocracy on every rung of the system. We have our equivalent as we individually abrogate responsibility for just about everything, we shun initiative and blame 'them'. Written on the side of one of our busses in Suchou: "Think, imagine, innovate". That was the soccer chant of Greg Dykes' ´óÏó´«Ã½.
Last night, what shouldn't have been the last concert turned out a winner. Circumstances meant that there was a bit of an interruptus feeling left in the air. Nicola gave everything and everybody noticed. Special qualities are needed to be the figurehead of a tour, and she has them. We were brilliant (need I say it?) – showing off in the fantastic acoustic, and with that 'last day of term' abandon. But the Mendelssohn symphony? Yeah, OK, the beautiful bits were beautiful. My problem with the piece is that playing it feels a bit like taking the children around a stately home and trying to get them excited about the wonderful furniture, when they would really rather be outside climbing trees and making bonfires (and so would I!). Rehearsing that sort of music is like polishing the furniture, so that the light can show it up better – reflecting and revealing. We did all of that yesterday. Music has to tell a story, and that story has to grab the audience. Mendelssohn's story is so stylised, well dressed, urbane and well spoken – I yearn for something a bit more open air and sweaty. But then, Chinese culture is the ultimate in stylisation and correct dress. I'd love a chance to hear what some of them thought about while we were playing it, or even better, what they felt. But I won't get that chance, because we're on the way home now. 'Here' and 'there' are going to mercifully merge into the same thing, and stay that way for a while. I hope plenty of us will keep up the habit of eating fresh greens three times a day. I grew pak choi in my allotment last year – we could revolutionise the Scottish diet. Innovate!
Anthony
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