Search - Zhang Ying :: Stone, Cloud, Water: Chinese Meditations on American Landscapes

It's hard to imagine that a work like this could exist. It is part Chinese classical opera, part Aaron Copeland's American landscape, and not just a little bit like the best of Walt Disney's epic soundtracks. Zhang Ying was an acknowledged master flautist and composer in China. He now lives in Minneapolis. This set of seven independent works are his interpretations of the American landscape he has seen in his travels--the Badlands, the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Florida Everglades, and even the urban landscape of Las Vegas. The works are performed by an unusual orchestra, a chorus, keyboards, and recorded sounds, with Zhang Ying soloing on various ancient Chinese flutes on most tracks. The pieces run from the ethereal "Cooking Fires," performed on flutes and cooking utensils, to the strangely clichéd yet totally captivating "Seagulls over Niagara." Most graphic is "Gambler," with its cartoonish portrayal of the city of Las Vegas creating a vivid and perfect image of the city of neon through the eyes of a Chinese visitor. Throughout this work, the composer and performers exhibit that most essential gift, an ability to display serious and complex music with passion and not just a little humor. --Louis Gibson