Search - Si-cong Ma, Ning Lu :: Ma Sicong: Music for Violin and Piano

Rave review in Strings Magazine!

music lover | 01/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Strings Magazine Jan 2008.



Ma Sicong: Music for Violin and Piano.

Hsiao-mei Ku, violin; Ning Lu, piano.

(Naxos8.570600)







Western audiences seldom delve deeply into Chinese music composed in the Western classical tradition. If that's the case for you, this recording of Ma Sicong (1912-1987) works will show just what you've been missing. Sicong was one of China's leading violinists, composers and pedagogues. He studied in France in the 1920s and '30s, returning to China to become the president of the Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. He also served as artistic director of the Chinese Philharmonic Orchestra and the Taiwan Philharmonic before settling in the United States in 1967.

These expressive works are played exquisitely by violinist Hsiao-mei Ku (who also performs in the Ciompi Quartet and teaches at Duke University). The pieces range from the lively Dragon Lantern Dance to the pastorale Madrigal, the ambitious Inner Mongolia Suite to the wistful Lullaby. The music is a seamless blend of Eastern and Western influences, incorporating folk idioms and Western harmonies.

This CD features some of the most beautiful recorded chamber music that you will encounter this year, fiercely romantic and filled with heartfelt emotion.

--Greg Cahill"