Peng-Peng Gong (龚天鹏，1992－）
Symphony No. 4, Op. 41 "Rejuvenation" (2014)
World Premiere Performance
Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra
Liang Zhang, conductor
Yun-Hui Xia, concertmaster
Eru Matsumoto, cello
~FOREWORD FROM THE COMPOSER~
The Rejuvenation Symphony was commissioned to me by the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra as one of their main projects for the 2014/15 season. Inspired by the country’s current hottest slogan, The Chinese Dream, we’ve made it the largest classical symphony in Chinese symphonic history to date due to its gigantic emotional scale and epic scope. Divided into two parts and fifteen movements, the work is scored for a 105-piece orchestra with a total duration of 90 minutes. Each movement is an individual portrayal of a certain natural and spiritual element, through which I expressed my own interpretation of the Dream. The title “Rejuvenation” has a double meaning of both an ethnic rejuvenation and a revival of classical tradition of composition. The ethnic rejuvenation is both the Dream’s ultimate goal and the public desire for an absolutely equalized, peaceful and civilized society. As for the revival of classical traditions, I believe them to be a group of aesthetic principals equally shared by the world and not limited to the West, and that their artistic appeal is eternally modern.
The first part of the symphony (hence the first half of the concert) portrays an environmental dream and the second part a spiritual one. Beginning with “A Dream’s Cradle”, the first half offers musical images of my most ideal natural scenics and ends with the passionate symphonic testimony, “A Farewell to Arms”, and an extremely lyrical cello reverie, “Ode to Limpidity”. The “Ode” is a dreamy night-piece written for solo cello and string orchestra, composed with the assistance from my old classmate, Japanese cellist Eru Matsumoto, whom I’ve invited to China to deliver the world premiere herself as a foreign friendship ambassador. The cello acts like a “tragedy witness” sitting on a midst of ashes while singing a prayer that forms a bridge between terror and hope. The piece is also dedicated to Ms. Matsumoto.
The “spiritual dream” of the second half consists of six pieces, an “Inner-Demon Trilogy” and a “Rejuvenation” trilogy. The former describes the struggles between the inner soul and the inner demon, and how they eventually reach enlightenment and sublimation. These pieces stars the concertmaster Yun-Hui Xia in her full expressive virtuosity. The latter pays homage to the Classical and Romantic styles of music, followed by a Prayer for ethnic unity, and finally expresses the colossal desire for domestic love. The reason I’ve chosen the “Rejuvenation of Home” as the final movement is because that in the end, our own rejuvenating mission as commoners is simply to rejuvenate the value of our loved ones before it’s too late. When we’ve been touched and overwhelmed again by their company and existence, that is where the greatest rejuvenation lies as they are the real reasons that make our lives worth living for.
I’ve dedicated the symphony to the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and Maestro Liang Zhang in gratitude to their long-time trust and support.