GUO GAN - Moon Night (10 Erhu Solo) '2018

Tracks list

New CD by GUO GAN, the sixth for Felmay Records. The great virtuoso of erhu
(two-stringed Chinese violin of nomadic origin), in this new recording pays
homage to one of the fathers of todays Chinese music: Liu Tian Hua performing
ten compositions of the great master for erhu solo. Liu Tian Hua was an
important reformer of the classical musical tradition, through the inclusion of
elements of classical European music in classical Chinese (court) music, giving
a performing autonomy to two instruments that today often symbolize Chinese
music, such as the erhu and the pipe (lute).

Chinese music today most likely would not be what it is if there had not been
Liu Tian Hua. During the long history of China, music has always been an
integral part of society. Long before the birth of Western classical music, long
before the West developed a way to annotate the music itself and long before
there was a systematic study of matter in the West, the Chinese had written
treatises on the subject and constituted a special department to study this
discipline in schools and universities of which traces remain in the writings of
distinguished scholars. With the decline of the Qing dynasty, the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries, however, Chinese music precipitated into an abyss. The
decline of court music relegated to street artists and to the few
instrumentalists who performed music for religious rites and ceremonies, the
role of the only remaining professional musicians. These were not prestigious
works that were usually reserved for members of the lower levels of society.
After the abolition of the imperial exams in China, Liu Tian Hua had the
opportunity to receive a western musical education studying violin and trumpet,
even though since then he realized how important it was, for its formation and
for the development of music in his country, the study of Chinese music and
instruments, and in particular of the erhu. To learn more about traditional
music, he learned to play erhu and pipa by religious musicians and street
artists. The erhu had been until then considered a very important instrument in
Chinese music, even if mainly used as an accompaniment tool. It is only in the
hands of Liu Tian Hua that from instrument of accompaniment it becomes a solo
instrument. Convinced of the importance of preserving and developing Chinese
music through education, Liu Tian Hua has left many writings on this subject
and, thanks to his own educational experience, has identified new methods to
teach traditional Chinese music that at that time was risking to be dangerously
forgotten. In this new recording, Moon Night is the sixth CD that GUO GAN
records for Felmay, the great virtuoso honors Liu Tian Hua performing ten
compositions in solo the great erhu master.

GUO GAN, master of the Erhu (Chinese violin with two strings of Central Asian
origin) who became an ambassador of his instrument in the world, over the years
has accustomed us to unusual and unexpected encounters. We remember, among the
last ones with the rare and unknown instruments in the hands of LOUP BARROW (fy
8228) and the wonderful union with the balafon player ALY KEITA (fy 8243). Born
in Shenyang, China, in a family of artists, GUO GAN since childhood was
passionate for music. At the age of four years, he started with his father, Guo
JunMing (Famous Chinese Master); he was his fathers apprentice in learning the
art of the erhu, an old Chinese stringed instrument. In 2001, GUO GAN decided to
cross borders and to travel to Paris to extend his musical experiences in
perfecting his technique of percussion with the professor Marc Vives Quérol.
Since then, he makes Chinese music known to the Western world, collaborating
with many important artists: Lang Lang. Hans Zimmer. Gabrel Yared, Yvan Cassar,
Didier Lockwood, Jean-François Zygel. The Artist has also participated in the
registration of many movies soundtracks. GUO GAN, was awarded the Insignia of
Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Embassy in China,
25/04/2016, for his contributions for cultural exchanges and creations crossed
between musicians both French and Chinese. As indicated in the Embassy of
France, the Order of Arts and Letters, managed by the ministry of culture and
communication of the French Republic, is rewarded to people who have
distinguished themselves by their creation in the field of artistic or literary
or by the contribution they have made to the radiation of arts and letters in
France and in the world. With more than two thousand concerts to his credit, GUO
GAN and his elegant virtuosity moved the erhu from the Chinese tradition to a
sharing with other musical cultures of the world collaborating among others with
Jan Garbarek, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Rokia Traoré, Tiken Jah Fakoly, Amadou and
Mariam Bagayogo, Aly Keita, Habib Koité and many others.

01 - Recitation of Leiseure
02 - Song of Lament
03 - Towards Brightness
04 - Moon Night
05 - Bird Song in a Desolate Mountain
06 - Beautiful Evening
07 - Recitation of Ill-Being
08 - Étude on a Single String
09 - Song of Melancholy
10 - Shadows of Candels, Flickering Red

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