Chen Gang
2 products
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Phoenix Rising
$18.99CDLeaf Music
Jul 04, 2025LM299
Butterfly Lovers & Paganini / Chloe Chua, Venzago, Singapore Symphony
PENTATONE
Available as
CD
Rising star violinist Chloe Chua presents a recording combining Chen Gang and He Zhanhao's Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto with Niccolo Paganini's First Violin Concerto, performed together with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Rodolfo Barraez and Mario Venzago. The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto was written in 1959, and inspired by a tale often called the Romeo & Juliet of ancient China. Chen and He deftly combine a Western classical idiom with elements from Chinese opera, such as grace notes and portamento effects, and the work has become one of the most famous and acclaimed pieces of Chinese classical music. This album also features an interpretation of Chen Gang's Sunshine over Tashkurgan, which adds Central-Asian maqam to the stylistic palette. The programme concludes with Paganini's First Violin Concerto, musically inspired by Rossinian bel canto. The three works share a richness of melodic invention and orchestral colours, as well as breathtaking virtuosic demands for the soloist. The solo parts are in excellent hands with Chloe Chua, who admires the steadfast love and perseverance of the Butterfly Lovers, and feels fully at home in these evocative and exhilarating masterpieces.
Phoenix Rising
Leaf Music
Available as
CD
$18.99
Jul 04, 2025
Phoenix Rising featuring violinist Angel Wang with the Phoenix Orchestra, conducted by Claudio Vena presents a cornucopia of Chinese and Western classical music that transcends borders. The album includes Alice Ping Yee Ho's commissioned work Phoenix Rising, the beloved Butterfly Lovers' Concerto by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang, alongside traditional Chinese songs like "Jasmine Flower" and "Galloping Horses," offering a captivating blend of contemporary and traditional music. Phoenix Rising opens with the Butterfly Lovers' Concerto by He and Gang, a violin concerto that blends Chinese and Western compositional techniques, depicting two young lovers transformed into butterflies after their deaths. Followed by traditional Chinese songs: Songs of Four Seasons from China's Qinghai province; Dance of the Yao People, inspired by southern China's drum dance; Mayila, a Kazakh song about a young girl's beautiful voice; Galloping Horses depicting the sounds of horses whinnying and racing across the Mongolian grasslands; and the famous Jasmine Flower from the Qing dynasty, which tells of a virtuous woman captivated by the flower's fragrance and pure beauty. The album closes with it's title piece, Phoenix Rising by Alice Ping Yee Ho, a single-movement tone poem for solo violin and orchestra, encapsulating the timeless idea of the Phoenix rising from it's ashes, symbolizing hope and rebirth.
