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.

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.