A note to those setting symphonic music programs: individuals can not be relied on! As Chinese American author Tan Dun took the phase at the Strathmore with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Saturday evening, the occasional audios of fabricated birdsong filteringed system throughout the hall. Let me clarify.
For this program– split equally in between Tan Dun’s very own songs and a set of Igor Stravinsky’s friend functions– the composer/conductor supplied a brochure with a QR code which, when checked, would certainly send out an audio recording to your phone. The data opened up. (You can see where this is going.) That recording– a simulation of birdsong generated by a sextet of old Chinese tools– played throughout an “interactive” flow of the night’s closing item, Tan’s “Passacaglia: Secret of Intended to release. Wind and Birds, provided as a make-up for cello and band.
