Ambitious China Philharmonic evolves

As China advances its position as an economic and political player in the world, it’s not neglecting the arts. It formed the China Philharmonic in 2000 with no fewer than 120 musicians. The first season, the orchestra commanded attention by giving the world premiere of Philip Glass’ Concerto for Cello and Orchestra and playing Mahler’s “Das Lied von der Erde” and his Symphony No. 8, the “Symphony of a Thousand.” Not bad for a start-up group.

The orchestra appeared in San Jose and Los Angeles in 2002, following performances at the Casals Festival that year in San Juan, Puerto Rico. But it opened a more extensive series of dates in Southern California on Monday at the Irvine Barclay Theatre, with stops in San Diego and Santa Barbara and at UCLA to follow.

To enhance audience draw, the orchestra is performing with the controversial young Chinese pianist Lang Lang on its five-part program.

The 750-seat Irvine theater is terrific for a lot of events, but hearing an orchestra there isn’t one of them. The sponsor of the concert, the Philharmonic Society, put it there because “The Lion King” currently inhabits its usual orchestra site, the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The sound was loud, compacted, scruffy and muddled.

Of course, some of that must have been the orchestra’s fault. Expecting it to have the sheen, polish, wisdom and profile of a longer-lived group would be unreasonable. Still, under the direction of founding conductor Long Yu, it already plays with crackerjack precision and tackles formidable challenges with ambitious commitment.

Yu opened the program with the Overture to Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Tsar’s Bridge” and closed it with a driving account of Bartok’s “Miraculous Mandarin” Suite. There was also a pleasant, Western-flavored transcription of Yanjun Hua’s “Moon Reflected on the Erquan Fountain.”

More interesting was Xiao Gang Ye’s “Das Lied auf der Erde,” a home-team counterpart to Mahler’s “Lied.” Ye has set five of the same Chinese poems Mahler did (two more are planned) for voice and large orchestra and has them sung in the original language to boot.

The composer draws on Eastern and Western traditions and makes an immediate, evocative series of impressions, even though a Western listener may fear missing a great deal of nuance and meaning. Mahler doesn’t seem to be trumped so much as admired for getting it right. Soprano Luwa Ke sang the pieces with power and expression.

Lang Lang was less theatrical than he has been in some Southland appearances. The soloist in Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” he made the virtuoso demands appear effortless, even beautiful to watch, as he explored contrasts in dynamics, shadings and colors. Still, his performance seemed more about sound and touch than insight and heart. He played Liszt’s Liebestraum No. 3 as an encore.

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China Philharmonic

Where: Royce Hall, UCLA, Westwood

When: 8 p.m. Thursday

Price: $38 to $60

Contact: (310) 825-2101; www.UCLALive.org