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BIS

Chinoiserie / Jenny Lin

$21.99

Details

Composer
ADAMS, JOHN ARENSKY, ANTON ST
Artist
Jenny, Lin
Format
CD
Label
BIS
Released
Apr 01, 2000
Catalog #
BIS-CD-1110
UPC
7318590011102

About


Rather than an attempt to depict a reality-based musical view of China, pianist Jenny Lin's program seems designed to show how fantasy tends to mix with reality in many Western composers' attempts to evoke the flavor of a far-off, exotic land that held strong fascination. Of course, this fascination with the Orient in general began centuries ago with Europeans' first awareness of music, styles, food, and art, an awareness that grew to spawn periodic fads and influence fashions. Rulers stocked their palaces with treasures brought from the far east; Puccini and Gilbert and Sullivan celebrated this attention and many other composers included or tried to include elements of what they thought was oriental "flavor" in some of their works. Most often, however, the result was as much like real Chinese as the Moo Goo Gai Pan from your local takeout.


Lin has chosen a varied and eminently colorful program that includes many unfamiliar works--but no one can complain that this isn't one of the more engaging, intriguing, original, and entertaining piano recordings to come along in the past year. And pianist Lin is a wonderful musician, in total technical command of this long (nearly 80 minutes) and formidable program. And (as long as we're on the subject) she imbues the music with an enticing mix of variously scented spices that truly bring out the unique, if rarely authentic flavors of each composer's creation. As you might expect the pentatonic scale and its permutations are a ubiquitous presence, a feature that may have seemed merely curious a century ago but now comes off as more than a little cartoonish and hackneyed. But it still can be made charming and even pretty, as in Martinu's The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon, or sensuous, as in the surprising, Debussyian Lotus Land by Cyril Scott. Morton Gould's Pieces of China is a kind of Pictures at an Exhibition for the Kodak age. The idiom is a hybrid of borrowings from popular music styles (especially jazz) and the Western composer's "do-it-yourself Chinese music fake book"--but it's an absolutely charming condensation of cliché and postcard images, from "The Great Wall" to "Puppets" to "Slow Dance-Lotus".


Other highlights include Anton Arensky's Étude sur un theme chinois Op. 25 No. 3, a great encore piece that whirls and swirls its way through four exciting minutes; Percy Grainger's Beautiful Fresh Flower, loaded to overflowing with open fourths and pentatonic melodies; John Adams' predictably busy-but-going-nowhere evocation of China Gates; and Albert Ketèlby's In a Chinese Temple Garden, complete with gong. The prize for most authentic goes to Alexander Tcherepnin's Five ('Chinese') Concert Études Op. 52. The composer not only lived in the Far East for nearly three years in the 1930s, but he married a young Chinese concert pianist, Lee Hsien-Ming, for whom the etudes were written. Inventive and artful in their use of real Chinese melodies and impressions of Chinese instruments, these pieces have been virtually ignored by pianists but, especially as Lin presents them, they also deserve serious attention by others. Lin's fluid legatos, skillfully calibrated dynamics, and polished rapid fingering technique really shine here.


In the "works that have Chinese names but nothing to do with China" category are Abram Chasins' Rush Hour in Hong Kong, which from the sound of it just as well could be San Francisco or London or any other city; Ferruccio Busoni's Turandots Frauengemach, which is based on the folk tale Turandot, but whose theme is the very English tune "Greensleeves" which, according to the excellent liner notes, Busoni mistakenly thought was Chinese; and Rossini's Petite Polka chinoise, in which amusingly you can hear lots of Chopin but virtually no chinoiserie. Lin plays this with knowing humor and understated flair.


Lin's Steinway benefits from an acoustic that complements and naturally captures its full range and character, from robust lows to ringing highs. This is a release that every piano enthusiast should own. Those looking for a quirky but unfailingly delightful visit to China will enjoy it too. [7/1/2000]
--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Tracklist 22 tracks

  1. 1 Album de chaumiere: No. 3. Petite Polka chinoise 05:05
    Track
    1
    Title
    Album de chaumiere: No. 3. Petite Polka chinoise
    Duration
    05:05
    Composer
    Gioachino Rossini
  2. 2 Three Chinese Pieces: No. 3. Rush Hour in Hong Kong 01:36
    Track
    2
    Title
    Three Chinese Pieces: No. 3. Rush Hour in Hong Kong
    Duration
    01:36
    Composer
    Abram Chasins
  3. 3 Beautiful Fresh Flower 01:38
    Track
    3
    Title
    Beautiful Fresh Flower
    Duration
    01:38
    Composer
    Percy Grainger
  4. 4 Etude sur un theme chinois, Op. 25, No. 3 03:59
    Track
    4
    Title
    Etude sur un theme chinois, Op. 25, No. 3
    Duration
    03:59
    Composer
    Anton Stepanovich Arensky
  5. 5 I. Shadow Play 02:48
    Track
    5
    Title
    I. Shadow Play
    Duration
    02:48
    Composer
    Alexander Tcherepnin
  6. 6 II. The lute 04:07
    Track
    6
    Title
    II. The lute
    Duration
    04:07
    Composer
    Alexander Tcherepnin
  7. 7 III. Homage to China 02:15
    Track
    7
    Title
    III. Homage to China
    Duration
    02:15
    Composer
    Alexander Tcherepnin
  8. 8 IV. Punch and Judy 02:00
    Track
    8
    Title
    IV. Punch and Judy
    Duration
    02:00
    Composer
    Alexander Tcherepnin
  9. 9 V. Chant 06:38
    Track
    9
    Title
    V. Chant
    Duration
    06:38
    Composer
    Alexander Tcherepnin
  10. 10 Lotus Land, Op. 47, No. 1 04:51
    Track
    10
    Title
    Lotus Land, Op. 47, No. 1
    Duration
    04:51
    Composer
    Cyril Scott
  11. 11 Élégies: No. 4. Turandots Frauengemach (Intermezzo) 03:57
    Track
    11
    Title
    Élégies: No. 4. Turandots Frauengemach (Intermezzo)
    Duration
    03:57
    Composer
    Ferruccio Busoni
  12. 12 I. The Great Wall 04:27
    Track
    12
    Title
    I. The Great Wall
    Duration
    04:27
    Composer
    Morton Gould
    Performer
    Jenny Lin
  13. 13 II. Fable 02:38
    Track
    13
    Title
    II. Fable
    Duration
    02:38
    Composer
    Morton Gould
    Performer
    Jenny Lin
  14. 14 III. China Blue 01:34
    Track
    14
    Title
    III. China Blue
    Duration
    01:34
    Composer
    Morton Gould
    Performer
    Jenny Lin
  15. 15 IV. Puppets 01:25
    Track
    15
    Title
    IV. Puppets
    Duration
    01:25
    Composer
    Morton Gould
    Performer
    Jenny Lin
  16. 16 V. Slow Dance-Lotus 02:38
    Track
    16
    Title
    V. Slow Dance-Lotus
    Duration
    02:38
    Composer
    Morton Gould
  17. 17 VI. China Chips 02:57
    Track
    17
    Title
    VI. China Chips
    Duration
    02:57
    Composer
    Morton Gould
  18. 18 Improvisation on a Chinese Folk Song 03:33
    Track
    18
    Title
    Improvisation on a Chinese Folk Song
    Duration
    03:33
    Composer
    Jacqueline Waeber-Diaz
  19. 19 China Gates 04:47
    Track
    19
    Title
    China Gates
    Duration
    04:47
    Composer
    John Adams
  20. 20 A la Chinoise, Op. 39 05:10
    Track
    20
    Title
    A la Chinoise, Op. 39
    Duration
    05:10
    Composer
    Leo Ornstein
  21. 21 The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon 03:21
    Track
    21
    Title
    The Fifth Day of the Fifth Moon
    Duration
    03:21
    Composer
    Bohuslav Martinů
  22. 22 In a Chinese Temple Garden 06:05
    Track
    22
    Title
    In a Chinese Temple Garden
    Duration
    06:05
    Composer
    Albert William Ketèlbey