Search - Shih-Hui Chen, Gil Rose, Boston Modern Orchestra Project :: 66 Times: The Voice of Pines and Cedars

66 Times: The Voice of Pines and Cedars
Shih-Hui Chen, Gil Rose, Boston Modern Orchestra Project
66 Times: The Voice of Pines and Cedars
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (4) - Disc #1

The art-music composer of today faces many challenges. On the one hand, one is tempted to create music that embraces a diversity of styles. On the other hand, one hopes to develop a personal language that would reflect one...  more »

     

CD Details

All Artists: Shih-Hui Chen, Gil Rose, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Elizabeth Weigle (soprano); Wu Man (pipa); Min-Ho Yeh (clarinet)
Title: 66 Times: The Voice of Pines and Cedars
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 0
Label: Fischer Duo
Original Release Date: 7/1/2006
Release Date: 7/1/2006
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Forms & Genres, Concertos, Historical Periods, Classical (c.1770-1830)
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 034061085829

Synopsis

Product Description
The art-music composer of today faces many challenges. On the one hand, one is tempted to create music that embraces a diversity of styles. On the other hand, one hopes to develop a personal language that would reflect one?s artistic orientation and at the same time communicate effectively with the audience. This issue is of particular relevance to composers who grew up in non-Western cultures. Their music, to some extent, manifests their struggle to mediate between Western music and music of their own culture. Shih-Hui Chen is one example. Having grown up in Taiwan and having her basic musical training there, her works have been influenced by traditional Chinese as well as Western concert music. Over the years Chen has become adept in the compositional language of Western music. She earned a doctoral degree from Boston University while continuing her education in the United States. A prolific composer, she has written for a wide range of genres, including solo,! chamber, orchestral and film music. The five works featured on this CD cover a broad span of time (1999-2003), and reflect a developing aesthetic. This music summarizes Chen?s development and comes out of a desire to create works that assimilate her Chinese heritage and her training in Western art music. Like the interaction between yin and yang, these two opposing yet complementary forces continue to shape Chen?s aesthetic and her music, resulting in music that explores the representation of ?Chineseness? within predominantly Western compositional frameworks.

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CD Reviews

East meets west in the woods.
BobH | Boston, MA | 06/05/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)

"If pines and cedars have individual voices, then the title works well for the music contained on this CD. The music is varied in tone, color, emotion, culture, and impact. In some cases it conjures up feelings of a contemporary pastoral piece, albeit, a woodsy version. Some sections bring us to a deeper contemplative feeling while others seem to reflect the rough and natural aspects of the woods. The music is difficult and challenging, east and contemporary west, especially for those not accustomed to a heavy dose of Chinese music. It is jagged and emphatic at times. It is heavily on the eastern Chinese sounds mixed with western approach and structures. On several tracks the spotlight falls on the very eastern instrument, the pipa, an ancient Chinese stringed instrument, while some tracks utilize larger orchestration and its western instrumentation. The variety also comes in the form of concrete sounds and solo fragments, the spacing is very modern. Space between the sounds in considered fully on several tracks, being almost meditative or mystical. It is a purposeful and intricate presentation, one that requires focus and concentration

In the end it is a true combination of Chinese music and contemporary concert music. I enjoyed this CD and many others will, especially those with an ear for the eastern approach in music.



Also note the updated track listings:

1. 66 Times: The voice of Pines and Cedars - 16:44 (4 tracks)

2. Fu I - 7:23

3. Twice Removed - 7:51

Fu II - 11:10

4. Shui - 12:18 (3 tracks)

"