Given the growing presence of western opera and the symphonic nature of Beethoven’s only contribution to the genre, it seems appropriate that the Chinese premiere of Fidelio last Sunday took place unstaged. The concert performance at the Beijing Concert Hall fitted squarely into the China National Symphony Orchestra’s season-long focus on the composer, bridging a gap between repertoire-hungry opera audiences and China’s more established symphonic culture.

But even making allowances for Chinese orchestras, almost uniformly string-heavy and wind-weak, the performance initially brought to mind Peter Schickele’s Beethoven-as-sportscast sketch, where a flubbing horn player is sent to the penalty box. By that token, most of the CNSO’s winds and brass would have been taken out by the end of the overture.