The Monkey King: The World of Peking Opera

35 years ago, the acquisition through a coupon in a music magazine of a CD sampler from the World Sounds series of the JVC (Japan Victor Company) label was an important step in learning more about world music.  One of the pieces of which only a snipped was included was "The Monkey King," a work of what was known as Peking opera from China.  It was not until recently that the entire recording, from The Chinese Academy of Peking Opera and recorded in September 1979 at the Kokuritsu Gekijo Hall in Tokyo was purchased.  Though it took many years for that to happen, it was well worth the wait.

As the liner notes observe, Peking opera involves dance, music and theatrical presentation comprised of four aspects, including chang (song), nian (rhythmically spoken lines), zuo (using body movements and costume) and da (martial arts acrobatic movement).  So, an inherent problem with a recording like this (and perhaps not dissimilar to any Western opera) is that only half of the performance can be understood and appreciated.  But, what a half!

The amazing instrumental performance consists of wind and string instruments, percussion and vocals from the Academy, which was formed in 1951, just two years after the Communist takeover of China led by Mao Tze-Tung.  For the recording, there were nearly 50 actors and 17 musicians and the first two tracks is from a tale is based on a hero of Records of the Western Regions, a book by the 7th century scholar Xuanzhang, who traveled to India and brought Buddhism back to his country.

Track three is "Autumn River," a pantomime comedy that is derived from a scene in The Jade Hairpin, which is a story of 12th century China, while the last piece is "The Parting of Bawang and the Princess," written by an early 20th century Peking Opera figure who drew from Han and Ming dynasties classics.  What would likely be the toughest part to relate to is the vocalizing, which might seem shrill and tuneless to Western ears, but there is great charm and excellent harmonizing with the instrumentation, as well as beautiful control in the singing and speaking.  The playing of the instruments is just stellar and fascinating, particularly in the interludes between the vocals and this album is a stunning and highly entertaining experience of historic Chinese music.

The Hugo Masters: An Anthology of Chinese Classical Music, Volume 2

Aik Yew Goh, who hails from Singapore but moved to Hiong Kong, launched the HUGO label (the word is a play on his name) to record and release a wide range of incredibly broad spectrum and history of Chinese music, classical and contemporary.  Eckhart Rahn, a native of Germany who started the Celestial Harmonies label based in Tucson, Arizona, approached Yew Goh about a "Hugo masters" concept, in which the latter would select tracks from his voluminous HUGO library for a four-disc series.  Each disc focuses on instrument types, so the first, highlighted here previously, concerned bowed strings.  The second, featured in this post, takes in plucked strings, while the others are for wind instruments and percussion.

These amazing recordings were not released outside of Hong Kong and the representative material and excellent performances are complemented by the latest recording technology available in the early 1990s.  The instruments here are from the lute, zither and dulcimer families, with the former including the main example of the p'i-p'a, as well as the luiqin (a smaller version of the p'i-pa), the zhongruan (a medium size lute), and the san-hsien (which has a longer neck and three, instead of four, strings.  The ch'in, another popular mainstay of Chinese music, is a zither with seven strings and thirteen studs, while the cheng is smaller with higher pitches and has generally sixteen strings.  The dulcimer is the yanh ch'in and there are two bamboo sticks used to strike the strings along five sound bridges.  There are fast and dramatic pieces representing battles and war, gorgeous melodic excursions evocative of nature like "Petrel," suites with ranges of emotion and elegant courtly works.  Virtuosos performing on ths remarkable album were mainly from Shanghai, with others from Nanjing, Guangzhou, Suzhou and Beijing and the entire series is phenomenal, with the third and fourh volumes to be highlighted here in the future.

Lily Yuan: The Ancient Art Music of China

This is another great Lyrichord world music release, featuring the masterful Lily Yuan on the yangqin, a hammered dulcimer or zither.  The liner notes explain that what distinguishes the instrument from similar ones in other parts of the world is the use of bamboo hammers or beaters that provide a much different range of timbre and dynamics.

The word yangqin means "foreign stringed instrument," and it is likely, the notes continue, that it migrated from Persia, where it is known as the santur (other posts on this blog have highlighted Persian recordings including that instrument.)  Interestingly, the yangqin has only in recent decades been utilized as a solo instrument, as on this album, because it has traditionally been used to accompany other instruments in ensemble or vocalists.

Yuan was raised in Shanghai and was a child prodigy performing frequently on television and radio and, at 11, entered a major music conservatory in Beijing and performed for such dignataries as President Carter, among many others.  She studied in Shanghai and joined the faculty of the music conservatory there.  She later received a master's degree in music from the University of Toronto and began performing widely in North America.  For years, she worked and taught on the East Coast of the U.S., but is now based in Irvine, California, teaching the yangqin and piano.

The nine pieces on this amazing recording feature Yuan's remarkable abilities, not just technically (although her abilities here are stunning), but also in evoking emotional range. The performances reflect the very long historical traditions of classical Chinese music and the resonant tones on the yangqin provide a depth and shimmering quality that brings the pieces beautifully to life.

The Hugo Masters: An Anthology of Chinese Classical Music, Volume 1

In 1992, the Tucson-based Celestial Harmonies label (yes, it does sound very "new age") issued a 4-disc anthology of Chinese classical music from the Hong Kong HUGO label called "The Hugo Masters."  Each disc focused on a classification of instrumentation, with the first dealing with bowed strings, the second with plucked strings, the third with wind instruments and the last installement concerning percussion.

The first disc is 67 minutes of amazing music from thirteen tracks with top-flight musicianship and virtuosity, as well as remarkable production and sound from the HUGO label, founded by Aik Yew-goh, who was a musician, engineer and producer.  Their release through Celestial Harmonies marked the first time this music had been heard outside of Hong Kong.

By "bowed strings," what is meant for this recording is various forms of lutes accompanied by percussion, plucked strings and others.  Some of it is vigorous and lively, others contemplative and plaintive, with strength and sensitivity often going hand-in-hand or leading from one to the other.

Chinese music often reflects beloved stories and tales from history and one can imagine, even without knowing the details of the narratives, how the music is composed to accompany the tales.  As importantly, the music often features imitative qualities, in which instruments are played to mimic human conversations, the sounds of animals, and natural features like the wind or flowing of water.  Human emotion is put forward in interesting ways, as well, reflecting martial qualities, pensive attitudes, cheerfulness, sadness and others.

As noted above, the playing is very impressive and the recording quality is top-notch.  HUGO and Celestial Harmonies created a memorable and very affecting package that gives a brief glimpse into the rich history of Chinese classical music.

Anthology of World Music: China

This is another entry in a stellar series of traditional world music reissued by Rounder Records from originals produced by the International Music Council and the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation, edited by the institute's founder Alain Danielou and Ivan Vandor and done as a tribute to Danielou's long work in documenting indigenous music.  Vandor, who succeeded Danielou as director of the institute, continued the work of issuing the recordings, which comprised fifty albums released between 1968 and 1987.

The album consists of seven selections for the pipa (four-string lute--already focused on in this blog with the work of the great Wu Man); the zheng (a 16-string zither); the qin (a 7-string zither) and the xiao (a bamboo flute.)  The recording is bookended by the two lengthier tracks (which this blogger most enjoyed), the Haiqing na tian'e (Haiqing Seizing the Swan) and Guangling San (The Song of Guangling.)  But, all the pieces are excellent and highly enjoyable, reflecting the long tradition of Chinese classical music.

The 29-page booklet includes a general essay on Chinese music, including vocal music, as well as the three stringed instruments heard on the recording, commentary on each piece and biographies of the performers.  These latter include Chen Zeming on pipa; Li Tingsong, also on pipa; Ding Boling on zheng; Guan Pinghu on qin; Zha Yiping on xiao; Fu Xuezhai, also on qin; and Wu Wenguang on qin.  Some of them were born in the 1890s and 1900s and others are from a generation or so later.  The performances are striking and, while the sound quality is not likely to please audiophiles, it is hard to argue with the sheer beauty of the playing.

In addition to this great recording, others in the series will follow on Tibetan Buddhist music, Iranian classical music, and a 4-CD compendium of the music of North India.  Rounder, a label founded by three university students in 1970 and which was bought by the Concord Music Group in 2010, deserves a great deal of credit for reissuing this valuable and amazing music.

Wu Man: Chinese Music for the Pipa

Wu Man, born in 1963 in Hangzhou in southern China, is a master of the pipa, a pear-shaped lute, with four strings, twenty-six frets and six ledges serving as stops, that is plucked, in what is known as the Pudong school of performing on this classical Chinese instrument.  The Pudong tradition dates to the 1700s and from an area within Shanghai and Wu Man received her instruction from such masters at Lin Shicheng (1922-2006).  She studied with Lin at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing and was the first person to receive a master's degree in pipa studies and performance.  In 1989 she was awarded the first prize at the National Academic Competition for Chinese Instruments. 

The following year she went to the United States to study English and remained a resident.  She has had many honors, won a great number of awards and prizes and has played with an impressive and eclectic list of performers and ensembles, including the Kronos Quartet, Henry Threadgill (both featured here), Philip Glass, and Yo-Yo Ma's acclaimed Silk Road Project.

Wu Man's first recording was issued by the Nimbus label, which has issued many excellent world music and classical albums, in 1993 and is called Chinese Music for the Pipa.  The seven tracks include five traditional pieces and two modern ones (one composed in 1929 and the other just two years before the recording. 

Pieces reflect certain modes of performance, such as martial and civil or combinations of the two.  This latter is endemic to the final and most modern piece, Dian (The Points) which displays Wu Man's astonishing technique and skill, while also evoking the great emotion, especially the kuyin (or weeping tones) style.  There are also significant variations in tempo, from the faster folk-infused Denghue jiaohui that opens the album to the reflective Chen Sui, the fourth piece.

The liner notes by the artist and Stephen Jones give excellent information on the instrument and how it is played, the use of scores for the pipa, and summaries of the seven works on the album.  Three years after this debut, Wu Man worked with an ensemble on a second Nimbus release, Chinese Traditional and Contemporary Music, which further explored her interest in exploring and presenting the classical music of her country with modern expressions based on earlier styles and forms and this album will be featured here someday.

Wu Man: Chinese Music for the Pipa (Nimbus Records, 1993)

1.  Dengyue jiaohui (Lanterns and moon competing in brilliance)  5:21
2.  Wulin yiyun (Ancient melodies of Wulin)  14:17
3.  Bawang xie jia (The tyrant removes his armor)  10:27
4.  Chen Sui (Chen and Sui dynasties)  12:12
5.  Xu lai (Sounds of nature)  6:28
6.  Yue'er gao (The moon on high)  13:31
7.  Dian (The Points)  8:56