The centrepiece of Xian Zhang’s Prom with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales was the London premiere of Iris Dévoilée, a major work by the Chinese-French composer Qigang Chen. Born in Beijing, Chen studied with Messiaen in Paris before taking French citizenship in 1992. His work constitutes a sustained dialogue between Chinese and western classical and cultural traditions.
Iris Dévoilée is essentially a sensuous love song addressed to the flower-like woman of the title, possibly a courtesan: the elliptical Chinese text repudiates the idea that the beloved is the lover’s wife. Chen trades in perceived archetypes of femaleness, and the work’s nine sections have Baudelairean titles such as Pudique, Libertine, Hystérique and Voluptueuse. The score, though, is utterly beguiling.
There are concertante roles for Chinese instruments – pipa (a kind of lute), erhu (a two-stringed violin) and zheng (zither). Two coloratura sopranos trained in the western tradition (Anu and Piia Komsi) are placed alongside a Beijing opera diva, the extraordinary Meng Meng, whose vocal slides and quarter-tone ululations alternately allure and disturb. The orchestral writing peers back through Messiaen to Debussy and Ravel. It’s hypnotic, seductive stuff, and Zhang, herself born in Beijing and a major champion of Chinese contemporary music, conducted it with great love and care.
Its companion pieces were both Russian – Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and Rachmaninov’s Second. The Prokofiev was a little low-key, nicely played but lacking in sparkle and joie de vivre. The Rachmaninov was a thing of grand passions. Zhang pressed through it where some interpreters linger. The brass glared in places, though strings and woodwind were admirably sumptuous, the great clarinet solo in the third movement beautifully poised.
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Available on iPlayer for 30 days. The Proms continue until 12 September. Box office: 0845 401 5040
