[Reporter`s view] Baton that connected Korea - Japan

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra’s 648th subscription concert was held Saturday night at the Santori music hall in Tokyo. Music fans who filled the 2000 seats did not leave the hall even after the concert was over. They applauded for 20 minutes, shouting `bravo`! A fan, moved by the concert, said ``the concert was unforgettable.`` The conductor responded to the acclamation of the audience more than ten times on the stage.

This was the first concert by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra since the Tokyo Phil was merged with Shinsienihon Orchestra in April. The conductor was Jung Myung-Hoon, who recently assumed the position of a special art consultant. It is an unusual news in the music circles that the first concert, prepared by the Japan’s representative orchestra under a plan to revive the orchestra, was conducted by a Korean conductor. Despite its sufficient financial support, Tokyo Phil has been criticized for the lack of the spirit of art that can be proudly displayed to the world. The pitfall of the Japan’s orchestra, borrowing Jung Myung-Hoon’s words, is that it does not have its own characteristic trait although the level of technique is at the level of European orchestra’s technique.

138 performers from different orchestras successfully accomplished the `musical merger` following the perfect conducting by Jung Myung-Hoon. The Japanese fans all agreed that the concert proclaimed the `magnificent revival’ of the Tokyo Phil like Mahler’s `Auferstehung Sympnony` in C minor, a repertoire in the evening. Many Japanese fans applauded Jung Myung-Hoon saying that ``he has a special trait which cannot be found in other conductors. What is the Korean musical background that has produced the talented musician like him?`` They kept looking over the photo pictures of Jung Myung-Hoon’s performance, which were displayed at the lobby in the Santori hall. A Korean in the concert summed up the impression by saying that ``the Korea-Japan relationship has been in trouble as shown in the case of the Japanese history textbook distortion. However, Korea-Japan is connected to the extent that one talented musician can move the people of the counterpart.``

Lee Young-Ee yes202@donga.com