November 20

I am in the unique position, at least on this artistic team, of having worked with Tan Dun closely on his operas and concert music for the past 10 years. I assisted on the premiere and recording of his first opera Marco Polo, and conducted the premiere of his second opera Peony Pavilion. Since then Tan and I have maintained a close working relationship and have collaborated frequently. I have been able to steep in his musical language and the sound world he creates so effectively with his vocal and orchestral writing. It is a melodic and timbral feast, which still holds me riveted.

Tan Dun (center) and Zhang Yimou
Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

What I find remarkable is how “ordinary” his musical material can be on a basic level, even as he creates such extraordinary textures and effects. There is almost nothing in the score that one does not encounter routinely in an opera of Puccini or Verdi. Accents, portamento, pedal points, ostinatos, wide ranges of dynamics, accelerandos and ritards… all common musical gestures. What is shocking about Tan’s use of these gestures though is the extremity to which he intends them to be carried out. There is a barbaric force in his extreme loud dynamics, and what looks like an ordinary accent often carries a blistering force. The triple-piano markings in the string writing have a transporting tenderness. Portamentos are very often lengthened, and call for each of the microtones being traversed to be brought out, resulting in Tan’s special fusion of Eastern and Western Opera sounds. Indeed, as I have personally experienced in the past, it can inspire disbelief to hear how far Tan wants his gestures to be exaggerated. The beauty and clarity that results though when Tan intentions are realized are breathtaking.

It is a treat to work alongside Tan as he conducts his music. The inspiration and abandon he brings to the podium is exhilarating, and I have enjoyed seing the cast and orchestra dive in with equal vigor.

Saturday. 11/18

Arrived at today’s rehearsal to find we were going to run the first scene musically before staging. All I have to sing is an “ah” on a high A and run off.

Hmmm… I sat with everyone even though I was not really needed. Tan Dun, in his sweet manner, pointed out to everyone that my part was very necessary and important. Had a good time. Michelle, who is playing the Shaman, already has to sing low Gs and Tan Dun wants her to then go even lower after each note, sort of like a growl. She was trying and Zhang Yimou and his assistants were totally cracking up. They look so serious and then it is such fun when someone can crack them up and we see these huge smiles. While the singing was going on, a translator would read off where we were in the score and Tan Dun had an opportunity to talk about the dramatic reasons for certain accents and changes.

There was an awful lot of Chinese being spoken this morning. At times we thought we were losing it because Tan Dun would speak to us in Chinese accidentally and I swear we sort of understood, but that was absolutely impossible. Everyone was a little tired. Saturdays always feel different than other days and most everyone dresses more casually.

We started staging, putting on the kimono rejects from the costume shop- mine is pinned beyond its life- and Zhang Yimou’s assistant, Wang Chao Ge, began staging. She is a powerhouse. She keeps Kerry, the translator, on his toes because she talks really fast and he might be just finishing translating and she is already across the room talking to different singer. She is extremely lithe and able to do many types of characters. I would love to have her metabolism.

There is a scene in which the Shaman tells us the daughter has been murdered and Gao (Paul) runs off stage on a high “AH”, and I am written to do the same. (my previously mentioned high A)
Two problems. It looks like we are running off together which would never happen and, as Paul said, it looks like I am running off because I remembered that a pot as on the stove. Well, that totally cracked up Zhang Yimou and his compatriots. Very good moment.
I asked if perhaps I could just faint and they will think about it.

November 16, 2006

Today all the onstage musicians who appear in the first scene showed up for their first rehearsal. The opera opens with a ritual ceremony, performed for the Emperor and his court. Tan Dun told us that when he visited the historical museum in Xian, where the first Emperor reigned in 221 B.C., he asked the director of the museum what kind of music would have been played back then. The museum director told him that the musicans of that time would most likely have used very primitive methods, including using stones to strike their drums, as well as striking ceramic pots with sticks. Tan Dun took this idea and decided to utilize twelve drummers, each of whom strike their drums with two rocks, one in each hand, and in tandem they also strike the rocks together to create a very unique sound. There are also three ceramic pot players. We are still trying to find just the right kind of pots to use to create the most interesting sounds. Each player sits in front of a row of pots, all different sizes, and therefore with different pitches, and strikes them with wooden mallets. In addition, there is also a zheng player onstage; the zheng is a very traditional Chinese string instrument, played by plucking with the fingers.

From the first moment, we were all transfixed by the elemental power of these primitive sounds. It’s going to make for a viscerally exciting opening scene, and while we were only rehearsing with these players on their own, once they are combined with the full orchestra, the chorus, and the soloists, this first scene is going to be quite amazing!