Search - Huanzhi Li, Anonymous, Chu Wei :: The White-Haired Girl Suite; Spring Festival Overture; Heroes' Monument

A stirring introduction to Chinese orchestral music

01/25/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Marco Polo's recording of the "Spring Festival Overture" (no composer named in the notes), a suite from Yan Jinxuan's ballet "The White-Haired Girl" (neither the composer nor the arranger named in the notes), and Chu Wei's "Heroes' Monument" provides an introduction to Chinese orchestral music readily accessible to any Western listener. This release in Marco Polo's Chinese Music Series features three pieces that will be welcome additions to any music collection. The brief (5:02) overture which begins the disc is more festive and less mannered than the "Festival Overture" by Du Mingxin on Marco Polo 8.223939. It provides a lively preparation for the centerpiece of the album, the suite from "The White-Haired Girl." Having just heard what appears to be the complete ballet (82012 on the Marco Polo/Yellow River label), I can state that what is labeled here a ballet suite seems more a fantasia on themes from the ballet; the suite has thematic development which never appears in the complete work and a far more stirring ending. With its Romantic Chinese themes and Western-style orchestration (imagine Tchaikovsky at his most heroic but without the saccharine), its sense of development, and its approachability, "The White-Haired Girl" suite may well be the ideal work for anyone not yet familiar with Chinese music. What a pity that the arranger/composer of this suite is not credited! The description of "Heroes' Monument" in the notes is a bit chilling when one reads that this monument, equivalent to our Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, is in Tienanmen Square. Nonetheless, Chu Wei's tone poem, by turns moving and exciting, makes for a stirring conclusion to this excellent album."