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Tan Dun's Martial Trilogy @ SF Symphony 4/25/15
#1
Two of my favorite things - sword fights and the symphony - combined into one. How could I not love it?

I managed to procure 3 comps in the Premiere Orchestra section. A nice perk of the job.

This should really have been called Tan Dun's Z Martial Trilogy because Z is in every film. Z is in all of the 'classy' Kung Fu flicks (and then there's that Rush Hour installment) And while I really admire Z as an actress, I don't really care for her in Kung Fu flix. She always dominates them, scene-stealer that she is, but her Kung Fu always comes off as too balletic for me.

The performance opened with the Hero Concerto, which was a good opener as Hero is a dazzlingly colorful film, and when cut up into backdrop scenes, it works really well. Violinist Ryu Goto is a rock star and he knows it. He had great attitude and man, can he play. I did find the film a little distracting as I felt I had to constantly not get sucked into these movies I've seen so many times and focus on the live concert in front of me. The sword hottie fight (Michelle vs. Z) actually had sound, which I thought was really distracting. However, this was the most engaging part of the trilogy for me because of Goto and the visual quality of the film.

The CT Concerto featured Peter Wyrick on cello and I never realized how hard Tan Dun is on his stringed instruments. Wyrick was excellent too, not nearly as rock star-ish as Goto as a cellist is seated and can't do all the dramatic rock star poses. He seemed delighted to be showcased. An intermission followed.

The Banquet Concerto concluded the performance and that was good because the Banquet is so abstract. Honestly, I don't remember that film very well. I remember I didn't really care for it and thought it was another trying to coattail on CTHD, but for the life of me I cannot remember the plot. I'll have to revisit it. The pianist was replaced but I failed to get the name of the replacement. She had a stunning red evening gown and her arms moved like a prima ballerina. Unfortunately, the Concerto, despite focusing on the piano solo, is quite discordant overall, so it didn't really showcase her skills, whoever she was. That, on top of the surreal Banquet imagery (the clips focused a lot on the masked scenes) made for a change of tone which would have been harsh had it not been separated by the intermission. I found myself wondering how many people in the audience ever saw the Banquet. I may have to revisit it soon.

All in all, a splendid evening, and it gave me a chance to rock my Tong suit again. 8)
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
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