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South China Morning Post March 11 1999
Tian’s notes of passion
China’s Tian Jiang is one of the world’s most exciting virtuoso pianists, writes Amanda Watson
Not many composers, it must be said, wish themselves in the middle of a safari park at their most creative moments. Tian Jiang is mainland born with African longings. Its animals and raw nature inspire him. "There is so much to discover there. I see the danger but I like it and I reflect it.
I feel very peaceful. In Africa, I hear no noise, even the birdsong is so clear. Musicians always tend to be so sensitive to sound. It’s so quiet there, I am transformed to another world." Ideally, he says, he’d be playing a piano in the middle of the bush. In Africa or else- where, Tian has achieved the dream he harbored when he was struggling as a pianist through the Cultural Revolution and finding his family shunned and his ambitious thwarted because of their intellectual background.In all that time, he says, he was driven not just by a love affair with the piano, which began at age four, but by the desire to see the world. "When I was growing up in China, I felt tremendous pressure, but at the same time you knew if you played well, you got opportunities. You could leave the country, play elsewhere. You had a free pass. It was impossible then most other ways."
Now he lives in New York, performs and promotes his new compositions around the world to non-stop acclaim and has just fixed his first national tour of China, starting on August 6 in ’Shanghai and going on to 15 other cities. Hong Kong dates are still being worked on. His performances of classical works and increasingly his own compositions have established him as one of the world’s most exciting young virtuoso pianists. In his childhood, though, since such success was unimagined and unimaginable, it was the thought of performing abroad and seeing other musicians that kept both Tian and his family going through the tough times. "My playing was the only hope my parents had. They were not popular themselves because of the political situation. My success made them happy."
His father, a singer of Western opera, and his mother, a dentist, condemned the family to the status of "intellectuals". Their household was raided twice by the Red Guard. The child prodigy was twice denied admission to a music school. "I thought about quitting then. It was very disappointing. But my parents were always very persistent and urged me not to give up."
Curiously, when the time came to leave Shanghai nearly 20 years ago. it was actually difficult, says Tian, 34. "When I left, I knew I would never come back. Not to the Shanghai of those times. The place has so many memories for me. It isn’t thc old Shanghai now and l Iike to see it changing but there are still sentimental feelings."
He took the plane to America – aged 16 and one of the first artists allowed to leave China – on a cultural exchange program and his career immediately took off too. The boy who made his professional debut at the age of 13 at the Shanghai Spring international music festival, and first came to international attention when he appeared with Vladmir Ashkenazy in a BBC film about the Russian virtuoso’s visit to China, was suddenly giving recitals everywhere.
He trained at the Juilliard School and made a critically ac- claimed debut at Carnegie Hall. A string of prestigious awards followed. His music is romantic, his favorite composers almost predictably Chopin, Rachmaninov, Schumann – 19th century romantic composers. But his relatively recent move into composing is driven by his own imagination.
"I don’t borrow melodies," he insists, "They emerge from my heart. Maybe I remember my childhood, or 10 years ago or falling in love. It drives my music. " Composing, as described by Tian, is about hearing melody coming out. "All the melody is...like my emotion, my heart. And my heart is the music factory, al- ways singing in my mind, every time when I close my eyes."
Romantic influences aside, listening to Tian’s second CD. Shanghai Dreams, the music is a curious combination of Russian powerhouse and Richard Clayderman; easy listening with more than a hint of Erich Satie. Romantic pop melodies grounded in classical harmonies.
Rippling chords, deep warmth, extraordinary clarity, his playing is always emotional, technically stunning. It is, unashamedly, a statement about his life, his temperament and a tribute to his parents’ strength and love.
Yet it reflects. he acknowledges, a bygone time, 20 years ago. "My music is based on strong emotions, using very melodical phrasing and more soulful music. If I was doing my CD again, I would use more contemporary dissonant chords reflecting fast, modern Shanghai."
He was shocked when he went back to Shanghai n few weeks ago he says. His old house had been torn down. His brother, who stayed behind when his parents left to join Tian in New York, is from a different culture now, though they are only two years apart in age. "Such huge changes," he says.
"l felt like a foreigner there. The young people are so modern, more advanced than me! I am a foreigner in my own land. Then when I saw the new concert hall, I was just blown away and I decided I had to come back. I feel I belong in Shanghai."