Danny Tan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I have only know two Chinese works written for the western orchestra,
>namely the Butterfly Lovers Concerto for Violin and Orchestra and The
>Yellow River Concerto for piano and orchestra.  Can anyone recommend
>others which are as beautiful as these?

It's hard to match the Cav & Pag of PRChinese music; but here's a few to
keep you going until i finally get around to rebuilding the Bamboo Curtain
files on a new server.  I have used the transliteration convention where
names are written in CLEMENTS Robert format.

(It should be noted that all of these suggestions - like the two scores you
mentioned - refer to works by PRChinese-based composers.  Composition by
composers of Chinese origin is a very different rollerball game...)

Epic concerti (mostly for Chinese instruments with western orchestra;
although parallel versions with western instruments generally exist):

DU Ming Xin:  Xinjiang Dances for violin & orchestra.

HE Zhan Hao is a cocomposer (with Chen Gang) of The Butterfly Lovers
(literally LIAN Shanpo & ZHU Tingtai, the Butterfly Lovers of the western
title):  Lovers in War erhu concerto & Linan Tragedy zheng concerto.

WU Zu Qiang et al:  Little Sisters of the Grassland pipa concerto.

ZHU Xiao Ghu:  The Dream of the Red Mansions zheng concerto (based on the
same melodic material as HE's Linan Tragedy...  PRChinese has what on might
call a jazz aesthetic, where standard melodies tend to be reinterpreted
continuously by new artists) & Princess Wencheng for liugin, zheng,
zhongruan & Chinese orchestra (a triple concerto - for single soloist)

ZHU Xiao Ghu & Zheng Xiao Feng:  The Parting of the Newly Weds.

Other symphonic scores:

DING Shan De:  The Long March Symphony (a narrative epic almost as long as
the Il'ya Muromets symphony it somewhat follows; with some lovely landcsape
impressions)

DU Ming Xin & WU Zu Qiang:  The Mermaid ballet.  DU & WU were also part of
the compositional collection which created the model dance-drama The Red
Detachment of Woman, which is a totally different kettle of continuous
revolution...  but a stunning feat of musical composition

HE Zhan Hao:  Peacocks Flying South East

QU Wei & YAN Jin Xuan:  The Whitehaired Girl ballet (the other famous model
dance-drama)

(transcribed) WU Zu Qiang (from HUA Yan Jun):  Moon Reflected in the Erquan
Pool (with Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon & Winning the Dragon Boat Race
one of the most popular PRChinese orchestral lollipops)

XIN Hu Guang:  Ga Da Mei Lin (a kind of Mongol Il'ya Muromets)

Two other works need to be noted:

XIAN Xing Hai:  The Yellow River cantata is the basis for (arranged) YIN
Cheng Chong et al:  The Yellow River piano concerto; & is a thumping score
in its own right.  At least one recording of the cantata - on Hugo - pairs
this work with XIAN's startlingly Ivesian Chinese Rhapsody; while others
put the cantata & concerto on the same disc.

ZHU Jian'er:  Symphony no.1 comes as close to uncompromised greatness as
any work written within my lifetime.  A savage son of Shostakovich, its
four movements - graphically subtitled!,?!, ...  &!  - attack the Cultural
Revolution with a fury which might even have subdued DSCH himself...
absolutely - & literally - stunning....

Of course:  if you're one of those strange USAmerican politicians who have
trouble telling the difference between China & Chyna:

ZHANG Kong Fan et al:  Lady General MU Gui Ying Takes Command

... a programmatic symphony from Beijing opera, somewhat in the style of
Gliere's Il'ya Muromets (i assume that noone is surprised by now), will
fail to separate the two completely....

Hoping to finally get to .sg later this year; but failing that,
_definitely_ next year.  Gong hei faat choi....

(Or: happy Chinese new year, to the lunar calendar challenged...)

All the best,
Robert Clements <[log in to unmask]@one.net.au>