"Haydn's 'Fire Symphony' and Wagner's 'Magic Fire Music' on the one hand, and the water concert by the Chinese composer Tan Dun on the other: The recreation orchestra and conductor Mei-Ann Chen paid homage to the elements. As much as the music blazed at first - in the end Tan Dun's spectacular work floated on top.
Plastic basins filled with water, floating bamboo bowls, flip-flops knocking on tubes, the stage bathed in blue light. Welcome to the world of Tan Dun's water concert! There was splashing, plunging, splattering around and diving.
Water at the stage of an orchestra concert? Elsewhere, that would be a matter for the facility manager, but for Tan Dun this is a program: Water is an instrument. The sound range is wide, the three percussionists, especially Evelyn Glennie, knock and beat like there’s no tomorrow. The orchestra tries to keep step behind splash protection walls, rapid glissandi pick up the flow of percussion, then pizzicati drip again on the stage. Tan Dun's concert is a feast for all senses, a playful approach, a welcome anomaly in the concert hall. In the end, they extinguished the fire of the first half, which had flickered so beautifully in Haydn's Symphony No. 59 and Wagner's Valkyrie Fire Magic. 'Walle walle, Wasser fließe…'*: The enthusiasm also captured the audience, who cheered the courage of this performance. " (Translation)
*quote from Goethe’s Ballad DER ZAUBERLEHRLING (Enchanting Apprentice)