Many here have equipment made in China. With that in mind, perhaps it is time to feed some Chinese music through that equipment.
Here are two recent additions to Klassik's CD collection which Klassik believes are worth sharing here.
The first CD, Postcards from China, is a real winner. It is from the Cantonese-born composer Fu-Tong Wong and contains music for violin and piano. Although there are certainly some eastern melodies, some from folk songs, in the music, it uses mostly western harmonies. This mix of east and west allows this music to be easily consumed by anyone not really familiar with eastern music. There are some toe-tappers on this disc and here is one of those toe-tappers in the form of short dance pieces:
Drum Dance
Ok, so those are a fun listen, but what about something serious? Here are a few serious works which show cantabile writing for the violin:
Chinese Dance in E
Mongolian Folk Song
Ali Mountain Song
Full album on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kGce1JVsXCadGKWbIZIDqaOHzYGLhsgk0
It should be added that the music here is recorded exceptionally well. It was actually recorded about a decade ago at Houston's Rice University. Klassik reckons Rice University is an appropriate place to record Chinese music.
The next album Klassik will share is performed by the same violinist as the above Fu-Tong Wong album, the Taiwanese Cho-Liang Lin. That said, the work in question on this album is an orchestral piece by the Beijing-born composer Nai-Chung Kuan. Specifically, the work is a programmatic violin concerto, Memory of Mountain, which was inspired by the scenery and culture in the Alishan Mountains of Taiwan. The work was originally composed in 1991 for the Chinese violin-like instrument, the banhu. Kuan adopted the work for violin in 2016 and that is what we hear on this performance. The orchestra is a 'Chinese orchestra'. This is to say that the orchestra uses a combination of Chinese and western instruments.
Since the work features some Chinese instruments which might not be well-known to western listeners, it's worth reading the liner notes so one knows what instruments they are hearing in the orchestra. With this being a Naxos release, the liner notes are fully available on the Naxos website. The liner notes also has details from the composer about what the music is more or less describing: https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.574180&catNum=574180&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English#
Klassik will post the second movement from the concerto, The Train in the Mountain Forest. This movement is a bit of a mini-concerto itself with a colorful intro and conclusion which will certainly invoke thoughts of a train. In between is a wonderful slow, lyrical part which certainly balances the raucous outer parts of the movement.
Full album on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m0tecqcZTd9djdxyJbNy3M6txe2kdNK5s
This sound quality on this recording is quite good. The disc has a couple of other works from another composer, Joel Hoffman, but Klassik found them to be rather mediocre. Maybe someone will like them, but the Kuan work is the reason to buy this disc in Klassik's opinion.
Hopefully everyone enjoyed this look at some music which is different, but not completely different.
Here are two recent additions to Klassik's CD collection which Klassik believes are worth sharing here.
The first CD, Postcards from China, is a real winner. It is from the Cantonese-born composer Fu-Tong Wong and contains music for violin and piano. Although there are certainly some eastern melodies, some from folk songs, in the music, it uses mostly western harmonies. This mix of east and west allows this music to be easily consumed by anyone not really familiar with eastern music. There are some toe-tappers on this disc and here is one of those toe-tappers in the form of short dance pieces:
Drum Dance
Ok, so those are a fun listen, but what about something serious? Here are a few serious works which show cantabile writing for the violin:
Chinese Dance in E
Mongolian Folk Song
Ali Mountain Song
Full album on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kGce1JVsXCadGKWbIZIDqaOHzYGLhsgk0
It should be added that the music here is recorded exceptionally well. It was actually recorded about a decade ago at Houston's Rice University. Klassik reckons Rice University is an appropriate place to record Chinese music.
The next album Klassik will share is performed by the same violinist as the above Fu-Tong Wong album, the Taiwanese Cho-Liang Lin. That said, the work in question on this album is an orchestral piece by the Beijing-born composer Nai-Chung Kuan. Specifically, the work is a programmatic violin concerto, Memory of Mountain, which was inspired by the scenery and culture in the Alishan Mountains of Taiwan. The work was originally composed in 1991 for the Chinese violin-like instrument, the banhu. Kuan adopted the work for violin in 2016 and that is what we hear on this performance. The orchestra is a 'Chinese orchestra'. This is to say that the orchestra uses a combination of Chinese and western instruments.
Since the work features some Chinese instruments which might not be well-known to western listeners, it's worth reading the liner notes so one knows what instruments they are hearing in the orchestra. With this being a Naxos release, the liner notes are fully available on the Naxos website. The liner notes also has details from the composer about what the music is more or less describing: https://www.naxos.com/mainsite/blurbs_reviews.asp?item_code=8.574180&catNum=574180&filetype=About%20this%20Recording&language=English#
Klassik will post the second movement from the concerto, The Train in the Mountain Forest. This movement is a bit of a mini-concerto itself with a colorful intro and conclusion which will certainly invoke thoughts of a train. In between is a wonderful slow, lyrical part which certainly balances the raucous outer parts of the movement.
Full album on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_m0tecqcZTd9djdxyJbNy3M6txe2kdNK5s
This sound quality on this recording is quite good. The disc has a couple of other works from another composer, Joel Hoffman, but Klassik found them to be rather mediocre. Maybe someone will like them, but the Kuan work is the reason to buy this disc in Klassik's opinion.
Hopefully everyone enjoyed this look at some music which is different, but not completely different.