Speaking of the earliest and most famous military book in the world, "The Art of War of Sun Tzu", everyone is familiar with it, but what kind of experience will it be to perform "The Art of War of Sun Tzu" with Chinese national musical instruments?

On the evening of June 17, the national symphonic sound painting "Sun Tzu's Art of War: Echoes", which was elaborately created by Henan Song and Dance Performing Arts Group and co-produced by Henan Min'an Group, was staged in the concert hall of Henan Art Center.

At the seminar after the performance, experts and scholars from inside and outside the province agreed that the concert was a perfect national symphony audio-visual feast. The era of Sun Tzu's Art of War echoes, presenting the Chinese wisdom of building a community with a shared future for mankind to the world.

[Live] Seven chapters, reaching people's hearts

"Soldiers, the place of life and death, the way of life and death. The dead can't be resurrected, and the country can't be reborn." At the beginning of the performance, a tense dialogue between the two oldest Chinese musical instruments, the guqin and the drum, opened the concert. The curtain instantly brings the audience into the battle scene of life and death more than 2,000 years ago.

The sonorous and powerful first chapter "Major Events of the Nation" created a sense of tension of "the wind and clouds are surging, the mountains and rivers change color"; then, the horn-filled "Array - The First Battle" sounded, "Charge, smash the drum beat of thunder. Detour. At the moment of the war when the thunder was ten thousand and the setting sun was like blood, the clear and tactful "Love" made people "lean on the railings of high buildings and look at the bright moon in Guanshan. The spring boudoir wakes up from a dream and sleeps alone on a pillow. Quiet Cold"; the accompanying "The Voice of Huan Pei" pulled the audience back from the battlefield, and the tender and delicate feelings soothed people's hearts; the situation then took a turn for the worse, and "The Great War" began, "It is like a violent storm, and the world changes color. But see the golden armour and the iron horse, the blood stained the yellow sand"; after the fierce battle, "the river is bleak, the fierce horse hesitates. The bones of the ancient times, the mountains and rivers are full", which truly reproduces the human "Sorrow"; finally, the performers sang the song with unaccompanied vocals. In this way, he called for "peace", interpreted the theme of "The World Returns to the Heart", and pushed the whole performance to a climax.

In the evening's performance, under the loving command of Mr. Zhang Lie, the performers of the Henan National Orchestra performed a magnificent and profound epic temperament. The quaint and profound music, the orchestration with intertwined colors, and the rich and varied tones are directly touching and shocking.

It is reported that this concert, performed by the Henan National Orchestra, is one of the series of performances of the "Central Plains Culture Stage" sponsored by the Propaganda Department of the Henan Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Henan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Henan Radio and Television, and Zhongyuan Publishing and Media Group. Sun Tzu's Art of War: Echoes, as the final acceptance of the 2021 Henan Provincial Provincial Public Cultural Service Special Fund Support Project, is the first appearance of this work after more than a year of careful polishing.

[Process] After the premiere, it was carefully crafted

As we all know, "Sun Tzu's Art of War", as one of the earliest and most famous military books in the world, is regarded as a military scripture and the essence of Chinese excellent traditional culture. As a battleground for military strategists of all dynasties, the Central Plains has suffered from war and chaos, and has a deep understanding of military conquests. The large-scale folk music work "Echo of Sun Tzu's Art of War" was created based on this concept. It is the deep echo of Chinese civilization in the land of Zhongzhou, and the generosity of the children of the Central Plains in the new era.

The national symphonic sound painting "Sun Tzu's Art of War: Echoes" is art director Mr. Zhao Jiping, the honorary chairman of the Chinese Musicians Association and a famous composer, creative planning by Du Hongya, deputy general manager of Henan Song and Dance Performing Arts Group, famous composers Wang Danhong, Zhang Yibing, Yang Yibo, literature The writer Lin Tianquan created with passion, which lasted for six years. He was selected for the 2017 large-scale stage art creation funding project of the National Art Fund, and won the 7th Henan Province Literature and Art Outstanding Achievement Award.

Since its premiere in 2019, the work has won warm welcome and wide attention from all walks of life, and is considered to be a pioneering and landmark work of excellent national orchestral music.

During the processing and revision period, Gan Yuan, general manager of Henan Song and Dance Performing Arts Group, led the main creative team and all cast members to hold more than ten workshops, demonstration meetings and promotion meetings, from script conception to artistic creation and presentation. The drastic deletions and revisions, some chapters were even overturned and rebuilt, with the determination and perseverance to create masterpieces handed down from time to time, the works were meticulously crafted and polished repeatedly, making the overall appearance look brand new.

[Affirmation] Ingenious conception, strong sense of substitution

"The Echoes of Sun Tzu's Art of War is an original music work in Henan. Every artist is playing with their hearts and has entered a state of ecstasy. As a listener, there is always an invisible hand grabbing my ears and my heart. Let me move forward with the music." Chen Zuohui, vice president of the China National Orchestra Society, vice chairman of the Guangdong Music Association, and a famous percussionist, said that a good work will make an orchestra's artistic level leap forward. To further enhance the influence of the excellent traditional Chinese culture, it can be said that this work is a successful example of telling the story of traditional Chinese culture with folk music.

In recent years, Xiao Ying, director of Chengdu Song and Dance Theater, has been paying attention to this work, and this time he came to enjoy the performance with curiosity. "First of all, in terms of subject matter, this work has sparked Chinese philosophy, Chinese spirit and national music. Secondly, this work is rich in layers, has a strong sense of three-dimensionality, and has a high conception. Thirdly, from the perspective of performance, Henan The Chinese Orchestra has the temperament of the Central Plains and has rich performance experience. Today's performance is very handy, the relationship between wind and string music is properly handled, and the music presentation is completely symphonic."

Zhang Fan, head of the Hebei National Orchestra, believes that the work is ingeniously conceived and has a strong sense of substitution. It is a perfect audio-visual feast of national symphony. Composer Zhou Hong, honorary chairman of the Henan Music Association, believes that this work is very successful in expressing traditional culture in a fashionable and modern way. Fang Kejie, the president and composer of the Henan National Orchestra Society, bluntly said that after appreciating such a heavy and original work, people can see a vibrant Henan National Orchestra full of the flavor of the times.

Many guests believed that compared with the first performance, this performance had a completely reborn change, which was very shocking and deeply affected, indicating that the processing improvement was very successful.

[Suggestion] Repeated polishing and continuous improvement

"The processed and improved "Sun Tzu's Art of War Echoes" has seven chapters. If the chapters are connected by guqin, xiao, and flute, it may feel better, but it will make musicians and conductors more difficult." Henan Music Association Honorary chairman and composer Zhou Hong said.

Yang Yang, vice chairman of the Henan Literature and Art Critics Association and a music critic, Zhang Lie, a famous conductor of the China Broadcasting Art Troupe and the artistic director of the Henan National Orchestra, all agreed with Zhou Hong's suggestion that works with the nature of a suite should have a running form. Systematic music is more dramatic.

At the seminar that night, everyone also put forward suggestions on orchestration, audio and video presentation, publicity and promotion. Everyone also agreed that it is necessary to strive for financial support, to carry out tour performances and online performances, and to polish them repeatedly in practice, so as to make them go farther and higher.

A member of the party group and first-level inspector of the Henan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Qu Jing believes that "Sun Tzu's Art of War" is a brilliant work, which can be called a classic of Chinese studies, a canon of military studies, and a collection of philosophy. Henan Song and Dance Performing Arts Group presents the profound wisdom and humanistic connotations contained in "Sun Tzu's Art of War" artistically to everyone in the form of a national symphony. This is an expression of cultural confidence, and it is a positive way to tell the stories of the Yellow River and China in the new era. Experimenting and beneficial exploration are also specific measures to implement the strategy of cultural tourism and cultural creativity. "I hope that the drama will be further sublimated and promoted, and the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism will give the greatest support, so that it can go further and better."