40 DEGREES NORTH

Xuefei Yang

 

Isaac Albéniz [1860-1909]

Seguidillas (Castilla), from Chants d’Espagne, Op. 232

Cordoba, from Chants d’Espagne, Op. 232

Sevilla, from Suite Española, Op. 47

(Arranged by Xuefei Yang)

 

Enrique Granados [1867-1916]

Valses poéticos

(Arranged by Xuefei Yang)

 

Francisco Tárrega [1852 – 1909]

Carnival of Venice

 

Stephen Goss [1964 - ]

Chinese Garden [composed for Xuefei Yang]

Lan Hua Hua (Blue Orchid)

Red Flowers Blooming all over the Mountain

Jasmine Flower (Waterfall Music)

 

He Zhanhao [1933 - ] and Chen Gang [1935 - ]

Butterfly Lovers

(Arranged by Xuefei Yang)

 

Traditional Chinese Folk Songs

A La Mu Han

Plum Blossoms in the Snow

(Arranged by Gerald Garcia)

 

Supremely talented guitarist Xuefei Yang’s second disc for EMI Classics, 40 Degrees North, comprises guitar music from Spain and China.

 

Xuefei Yang was not only the first guitarist in China to enter music school and later to graduate from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing with a Bachelor of Arts degree, but she was also the first Chinese guitarist to study classical guitar in the West.

 

The disc is so titled because the capital cities of both countries lie near latitude 40 degrees north. As Yang says: “To me, this parallel has come to symbolize the connection I feel to the music of both countries.”

 

The Spanish repertoire includes original solo guitar compositions (such as Tárrega’s Carnival of Venice) as well as arrangements of pieces written for piano or two guitars (Albéniz’s Seguidillas). Many of these works appear in new arrangements by Yang herself.

 

Since China has no established guitar repertoire of its own, the Chinese pieces on this recording originate either from arrangements of traditional Chinese pieces (including two traditional Chinese folk songs arranged for guitar by Gerald Garcia), or new compositions based on Chinese themes (such as Welsh composer Stephen Goss’s Chinese Garden, written especially for Yang).

 

Also included on this recording is Butterfly Lovers, originally written as a violin concerto using Western orchestral instruments and arguably the best known piece of Chinese music.

 

"From Beijing to Wimbledon, this is consummate guitar playing from a lady with no equal." Classic FM

 

“Yang demonstrates her feisty virtuosity, impeccable technique and sensitive musicianship in repertory ranging from Albéniz to arrangements of Western pop and Asian songs. Ms. Yang seems a Spaniard at heart, her guitar singing as if she had grown up in the shaded courtyards of Andalusia. … In her own arrangement of Gerardo Hernan Matos Rodriguez’s

 

“La Cumparsita” Ms. Yang shows that she has the tango gene as well. She seems equally at home in contemporary repertory … It is not hard to understand why Ms. Yang has drawn praise from John Williams and Joaquin Rodrigo.” The New York Times

 

EMI 2063222