A Conductor Who Reconnected China’s Classical Music with the World
Sir Andrew Davis, famed British conductor, died of leukemia on April 20, 2024, at the age of 80. Canadian music lovers particularly remember Sir Andrew’s tremendous contribution to Toronto, and Canada’s cultural life during his tenure as Music Director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1975-1988). In 2016, the City of Toronto even named the street in Cabbage Town where Sir Andrew lived as Sir Andrew Davis Lane.
Yet, fewer people know of the special role he played in reconnecting China’s classical music with the world. In January 1978, Sir Andrew led the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on tour to China, the first major Western orchestra to do so since the end of the Cultural Revolution. At the time, China’s Ministry of Culture, under the new Minister Huang Zhen (former Ambassador to Hungary, France, and later to the U.S.), was in the process of rectifying itself from the devastating cultural line that isolated China from the rest of the world. Unlike the Philadelphia Orchestra’s tour to China in 1973, when the hosting authorities, probably Madam Mao herself, intervened the programming heavily based on tough party lines at the time, the Toronto Symphony was met with enthusiastic welcome and all greenlight to their programming, which included Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (performed by Canadian pianist Louis Lortie), the Mahler song cycle “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” (The Boy’s Magic Horn) (sung by Canadian contralto Moreen Forrester). The concerts, held in the 18,000-seat Capital Stadium in Beijing, were broadcast live on TV across the nation, and Minister Huang personally attended the second concert. Afterward, he hosted a wine reception for all the musicians.
It was still the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, before China decided to embark on a decades-long journey of reform and opening up. Violinist Leslie Dawn Knowles reflects on the TSO's 1978 tour of China: “It was a different time… the (Chinese) People were not connected at all to the outside world.” (Source: TSO Facebook Page)
At the time, “rectification” was the main theme across all sectors of the nation, including the cultural sector. As one of Madam Mao’s “Model Troupes”, the Central Philharmonic Society was among the key organizations under heavy scrutiny of the new leadership of the Ministry of Culture. And Maestro Li Delun, its music director, was under investigation for his dealings with Madam Mao and “the Gang of Four” during the Cultural Revolution. He was still allowed to participate in the exchange event between the two orchestras, during which Sir Andrew Davis conducted the Central Philharmonic Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”, and Maestro Li conducted the TSO Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 “Fate”. Due to time restrictions, only the first movements were played. But both were impressed by each other’s performances.
According to Chris Weait, Principal Bassoon of TSO, “The Central Philharmonic has a fine sonority, with solid training and precision, particularly the strings. Its woodwinds remind those of a fine Eastern European orchestra. However, their brass is hardly audible! Brass players all wish to have better instruments.” The People’s Daily, China’s official newspaper, covered TSO’s exchange with the Central Philharmonic, “Mr. Davis conducts the Chinese orchestra just like directing his own. Striving for excellence, he sometimes stops the orchestra and honestly points out the shortcomings of the Chinese players, in order to improve the overall performance level.” In contrast, in 1973, the People’s Daily mentioned nothing about Eugene Ormandy’s conducting the Central Philharmonic, except a vague, general phrase of “warm exchange of performance experiences”.
When it was Maestro Li’s turn to conduct the TSO, he wasn’t so used to the way that Western musicians tend to wait one more beat before producing the notes – or expect the conductor to lead by one beat early. Having not conducted any foreign orchestras for years, Maestro Li was bothered by this awkward asynchronization, which sometimes caused the players to miss notes, as Maestro Li over-compensated by a whole bar early. However, Sir Andrew Davis was so impressed, he invited Maestro Li to visit Toronto and conduct the TSO for a full concert.
But this couldn’t happen until 8 years later. Maestro Li Delun, after the Toronto Symphony left, was taken off his post and listed as a key investigation target by the new leadership of the Ministry of Culture, who thought that the former Ministry was not tough enough to address the “lingering toxin of the Gang of Four”. With Maestro Li under strict investigation, invitations by foreign orchestras to have him guest conduct had to be altered. The Berlin Philharmonic and Boston Symphony gave in to the Ministry of Culture’s demand to invite another Chinese conductor. But they expressed their dissatisfaction by other means: for example, the Boston Symphony had the replacement conductor conduct only an overture, instead of a full Brahms Symphony as they had originally intended for Maestro Li Delun. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra didn’t back down from this politicized pressure. They insisted, that the invitation was for Maestro Li Delun only, or there would be no invitation.
Time flew all the way to 1986. Maestro Li Delun had been cleared of any wrongdoing but stepped aside from his position as Music Director of the Central Philharmonic, to make way for younger, Western trained conductors to lead the orchestra into a new era of reform and internationalization. (Later in 1996, the Central Philharmonic Society was reorganized into the China National Symphony Orchestra. This would be entirely another story about the history and evolution of China’s national symphony.) Now as an “old” man without the burden of official duties, his trip to Canada was a welcome break from the constant controversies and bickering. Although Sir Andrew Davis was on tour during Maestro Li’s visit, he wrote a warm letter welcoming him to conduct the TSO and wishing him all the success with his concerts.
Maestro Li Delun had very pleasant experiences working with the TSO. He was nicely surprised to learn that a number of TSO musicians had Russian background. Himself having studied in the Moscow Conservatory from 1953 to 1957, Li Delun found common friends with many of the TSO musicians. Maestro Li conducted the TSO to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony, and a Chinese piece by Chinese-Canadian composer Anlun Huang. The violin soloist was Toronto’s own Peter Oundjian, who years later, became conductor and Music Director of the Toronto Symphony (2003-2018). In June 2017, at the Concert Celebrating Li Delun’s Centennial, Peter Oundjian conducted the Toronto Festival Orchestra to perform once again Mendelsohn’s Violin Concerto, with young Canadian violinist and Winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists, Kerson Leung being the soloist. A full circle of music-making and cross-cultural connections was completed.
On the night of September 21, 2022, after Canadian pianist Bruce Liu, winner of the XVIII International Chopin Piano Competition in 2021 performed his premiere with the Toronto Symphony, Sir Andrew Davis met at the backstage with Madam Li Yan, daughter of Maestro Li Delun, and founder of the Li Delun Music Foundation. They fondly reminisced TSO’s historical 1978 tour of China, and the details of the exchanges between the Central Philharmonic and TSO, when the two maestros conducted each other’s orchestras. This would be the last time that Sir Andrew Davis met with the family of Maestro Li Delun, who himself passed away in 2001. Now with both masters’ passing, the connections they made are still resonating in the world of music.
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* Photo provided by the Li Delun family.
** Based on personal memories from members of the Li Delun family who were part of the events described in this article.
*** The chronicle of events in this article is referenced from “Song of Phoenix – The Central Philharmonic 1956-1996” (in Chinese), by Hong Kong-based scholar ZHOU Guangzhen, published by SDX Joint Publishing Company, 2013
**** Direct quotes from Violinist Leslie Dawn Knowles and Bassoonist Chris Weait are retranslated back into English from Mr. Zhou’s book “Song of Phoenix”. The intention of using such a quote is to provide full historical context. This author does not own the rights to these original publications, nor does he have any intention, explicit or otherwise, to infringe on the rights of the original authors. This author has used these quotes in good faith of fair use.
***** This author adds web links to resources such as Wikipedia, as deemed necessary to help readers understand the backgrounds of specific historical events. The author does not endorse nor guarantee the accuracy of such sources of information.