Shen Ye: The Psalms of Taciturnity - Chen Gang & He Zhanhao: The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto Zhi-Jong Wang, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra & Yang Yang

• Ye Shen (b. 1077):
• 1 Violin Concerto No. 1 "The Psalms of Taciturnity": I. — 18:32
• 2 Violin Concerto No. 1 "The Psalms of Taciturnity": II. — 08:26
• Chen Gang (b. 1935), Zhanhao He (b. 1933):
• 3 The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto 26:25
• Total Runtime 53:23

Info for Shen Ye: The Psalms of Taciturnity - Chen Gang & He Zhanhao: The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto

Hailed at its premiere as “a breakthrough in China’s symphonic music,” HE Zhanhao and CHEN Gang’s “Butterfly Lovers” Violin Concerto was later reviled during the Cultural Revolution for its Western influence and feudal Chinese inspiration. Though universally recognized among the Chinese people, the piece remains largely unknown in the West. A work of undeniable emotional appeal, it also carries with it a history that some of its biggest supporters are still struggling to digest. Borne of an uneasy union of revolutionary nationalist sentiment and Chinese urban cosmopolitanism, the musical progeny manages to be faithful to both its parents.

SHEN Ye, teaching Composition at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music is one of the most fascinating representatives of contemporary Music in China setting accessible Chinese culture to his own musical language. His works are performed all over in Asia, the U.S. and Europe. all over the world and this is the world premiere recording of his 1stViolin Concerto „The Psalms of Taciturnity“.

Zhi-Jong Wang
Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Yang Yang, conductor

Recorded at Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, August 2018

Zhi-Jong Wang
made her solo debut at the age of 14 with Orchestre national de Lille under Sir Yehudi Menuhin in France, since then she has appeared as a soloist with various orchestras,including Orchestre national de Radio France, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Turku Symphony Orchestra, Konzerthausorcheser Berlin, Warsaw philhramonic orchestra amongst others. She collaborates with musicians such as Yuri Temirkanov, Gidon Kremer, Lynn Harrel, Matthias Bamert, Okko Kamu, John Storgårds, Lior Shambadal,Christian Arming, Muhai Tang, etc.

Zhi-Jong’s recent accomplishments include her debut recital at the Lucerne Festival, highly acclaimed performances with the Osaka Century Orchestra and with the NHK Symphony Orchestra under Tadaaki Otaka, and her debut at the Philharmonie Berlin.

As well as performing the standard violin repertoire, Zhi-Jong is a passionate exponent of contemporary music, performing works by Gubaidulina, Lutoslawski, Schnittke, Ligeti, etc. In the recent seasons, she premiered Ana Sokolovic’s Commedia dell'arte III and Nikolai Badinski’s Violin Concerto No.2.

Following her first concert leading the orchestra from the violin with Ensemble Orchestral de Paris performing Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 5 at the Cité de la Musique in Paris, ‘playconducting’ has attracted Zhi-Jong’s interest and in recent seasons she has played/conducted Vivaldi/Piazzolla’s Four Seasons and several of the Mozart concerti.

Zhi-Jong is the laureate of many important competitions beginning with First Prize in the 1998 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition. In the same year, she also won the First Prize of the China National Violin Competition, where she was the youngest first prize winner ever. In the following years Zhi-Jong Wang has distinguished herself receiving prizes in the Sibelius Violin Competition, Lipizer Violin Competition, Tchaikovsky Competition, etc. Her achievements have attracted world-wide attention, in 2006 the China edition of Gramophone magazine featured her in a full-page report, and musical critics acclaimed her as “a rare new star in Asia”.

Zhi-Jong has studied at Shanghai Conservatory of Music with the renowned Chinese violinist Professor Lina Yu. Afterwards, she studied with Kolja Blacher at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, where she also worked as Professor Blacher’s assistant.

Zhi-Jong is currently Professor and Deputy Director of the Orchestra Department at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. She plays on a 1716 Stradivarius kindly on loan from China Foundation.

Booklet for Shen Ye: The Psalms of Taciturnity - Chen Gang & He Zhanhao: The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto