EIF: The Opening Concert: Buddha Passion
Usher Hall - 05/08/23
Royal Scottish National Orchestra | Tan Dun (conductor)
Is Buddha Passion the new ‘Carmina Burana’?
That’s the question some audience members were asking last night at the end of Tan Dun’s amazing new work, written in 2018 and getting its Scottish premiere in the Opening Concert of the 2023 Edinburgh International Festival. It was ecstatically received in a packed Usher Hall. Like ‘Carmina Burana’, featured in last year’s opening concert, it is about a big story, in this case the creation of the Buddha. The music is very accessible and often exciting. It combines six solo singers and an exotic dancer, with the massed chorus of the Edinburgh Festival and the Youth Chorus of the RSNO and an augmented RSNO orchestra playing out of its skin under the very precise control of the composer/conductor. It was a triumph! What’s more, it is clear from last night’s performance that this is not just a choral work, it is indeed an opera with the interaction of the singers on stage and between the singers and the chorus. It is also an opera with accessible melodic music which the packed Usher Hall found easy to accept and at times really excited them. How often can you say that about a modern opera?
Tan Dun created the ‘Buddha Passion’ after visiting the Mogao Caves in China which contain the largest collection of Buddhist art in the world, including the widespread use of musical instruments. His depiction of the story of the creation of the Buddha is sung in Mandarin with six principal singers including indigenous singers and an extraordinary dancer who played a traditional instrument as well as dancing. It was a feast for the eye as well as the ear. The solo singers were excellent bringing out the essential musicality of the work and a special mention to the indigenous singer who produced stunning throat music, certainly the first time I’ve heard that in the Usher Hall. The Edinburgh Festival Chorus were superb throughout in what must have been a very tough work to capture. They looked to be enjoying themselves too, as they were playing with rattles and bells and encouraged to laugh wildly at times. The Youth Chorus also had some lively verses to contribute and did it well. The RSNO musicians also seemed to be enjoying this new work and with lots of different effects the percussion section appeared to be having fun.
The story of the Buddha finding enlightenment and Nirvana was told in 6 parts and was aided by the active use of surtitles, although they did break down at the beginning of the second half after the interval! They were quickly restored, which was a blessing, as few of us speak Mandarin! Nicola Benedetti gave a warm introduction to the work at the opening of the festival and reminded us of the theme of the festival, “Where do we go from here?” Well there is one answer in the Buddhist story. When I was an MEP I was Co-Chair of the Tibet Solidarity Group and met the Dalai Lama several times. I asked him once “Your Holiness, why are we here?” He said, “Ah that is the most important question. You know I think it is for pleasure!” Well the Buddhist way has been attracting a lot of interest in recent years and this work will certainly stimulate that.
Finally a big thanks to our new festival director Nicola Benedetti for having the courage to choose this exciting new work to open the festival. I was critical at the festival launch about the lack of staged operas, although we do have several concert performances. I didn’t realise at the time, having never heard it, that Buddha Passion is really one of the most exciting and melodic new operas around and gave a great launch to the festival and its theme.
Cover Photo: Jess Shurte
