The National Symphony Orchestra (國家交響樂團), better known as Taiwan Philharmonic and touted as "one of Asia's best” by Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed, made its US debut with an opulent performance at Orange County on Dec. 12.
For its US debut, the NSO chose to perform works by Tchaikovsky and two leading Taiwanese composers -Tyzen Hsiao (蕭泰然) and Lee Chun-wei (李俊緯). Hsiao is known internationally as "Taiwan's Rachmanioff” whereas Lee was the winner of the 2013 Luxembourg Sinfonietta International Composition Prize.
Acclaimed Taiwanese-American violinist Lin Cho-liang (林昭亮) also joined the lineup and performed Hsiao's Violin Concerto, the first violin concerto in Taiwan history, in a performance that was lauded "opulent” and "lavishly harmonized in Hollywood glory.”
Lin also led the performance of "Last Mile,” composed by Lee using a Taiwanese aboriginal folk theme and noted by Swed as "a colorful orchestration of traditional music” and "alluring in its otherworldly opening and closing instrumental effects.”
NSO's rendition of Tchaikovsky's Fifth were "exquisitely polished” and "the climaxes were spectacular.”
Pointing out "dark and rich” tones that are "velvety and satisfyingly robust in the lower registers,” Swed also perceived "a German quality” in the orchestra's playing, which he attributed to the Viennese training of NSO Music Director Lu Shao-chia (呂紹嘉).
Based in the National Theater and Concert Hall in Taipei, the 30-year-old symphony ensemble is one of the leading and oldest orchestras in Asia.
It made its Canadian debut earlier that week on Dec. 9 at Chan Centre for the Performing Arts in Vancouver with the support of the Egret Music Centre, Taiwanese Canadian Cultural Society, and the University of British Columbia's School of Music.
The full program can be found here: https://issuu.com/psoc/docs/taiwan_issuu.