YUNDI The Red Piano

 

1-5) The Yellow River Piano Concerto
Based on The Yellow River Cantata by Xian Xinghai (1905–1945)
arr. Yin Chengzong, Chu Wanghua, Sheng Lihong, Liu Zhuang
i. Prelude: The Song of the Yellow River Boatman 3.39
ii. Ode to the Yellow River 4.23
iii. The Wrath of the Yellow River 7.02
iv. Defend the Yellow River 6.14
v. In That Place Wholly Faraway 3.57

6) Glowing Red Morningstar Lilies 4.24
Qinghai folk song arr. Zhang Zhao

7) Pi Huang (Peking Opera) 6.10
Shaanxi folk song arr. Wang Jianzhong

8) Remote Shangri-La 2.36
Zhang Zhao

9) Liu Yang River 3.29
Ma Jingfeng & Zhang Nan arr. Zhang Zhao

10) Kangding Love Song 1.31
Hunan folk song arr. Wang Jianzhong

11) Colourful clouds chasing the moon 3.17
Sichuan folk song arr. Zhang Zhao

12-16) Five Yunnan Folk Songs
arr. Wang Jianzhong
i. Dali Girl 1.00
ii. Following the brother 0.54
iii. Puzzle Tune 0.55
iv. Mountain Song 1.30
v. Dragon Lantern Tune 1.15

Ren Guang (1900–1941) arr. Wang Jianzhong

17) Celebrating our new life 1.44
Zhu Jian’er (b.1922) arr. Chu Wanghua

18) Why are the flowers so red? 1.53
Lei Zhenbang (1916–1997) arr. Zhang Zhao

19) My Motherland 6.03
Liu Chi arr. Zhang Zhao

Total Timing: 62.11

Yundi piano
China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra
Chen Zuohuang, conductor (1–4)

Recorded: 2–5 July 2011, Concert Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing

 

For his first non-Chopin recording, YUNDI turns to repertoire from his native China on The Red Piano. Anchored by The Yellow River Concerto, the release also features traditional Chinese songs which have been arranged to reflect the lush Romantic tradition in which Yundi excels.

 

After his triumphs in the works of Western composers such as Chopin, Yundi turns to music of iconic status in his native China. Lavishly deploying folk melodies, and evoking epic vistas, the Yellow River Piano Concerto – a flower of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution – has its source in a patriotic cantata, composed in 1939 by Paris-trained Xian Xinghai. Complementing the concerto are evocative arrangements of favourite songs that show Yundi at his most personal and beguiling.

 

EMI 0886582