VARIOUS COMPOSERS – Masterpieces of the Chinese Qin – Zhao Jiazhen, qin – Rhymoi RMCD G014, 71 minutes. **** ½:
Your first question might be, “What’s a qin?” It’s actually called a “guqin,” a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family. If you’ve heard any traditional Chinese music at all, you’ve probably encountered a guqin. Its timbre is quiet and has a range of about four octaves. Musicians produce sounds by plucking open strings, stopped strings, and harmonics. If they use glissando, the guqin sounds either like a pizzicato cello, fretless double bass or a slide guitar. It’s also very old – about 4,000 years.
Not only is the instrument old, but so are most of the songs. If you purchase this album, you can boast that some are older than Gregorian chant. One of the songs, “Solitary Orchid,” is the world’s oldest surviving written piece of music. But although it dates from the fifth century, it has a plaintive mood that modern listeners can relate to. Also notable is its use of microtonal scales and disquieting harmonics. Other tunes on this disc involve additional instruments, like “Deep Night,” which opens with an authoritative bass drum tapping elaborate rhythms, soon joined by the guqin. “Three Refrains on the Yangguan Pass” introduces the melancholic Gongdi, a “bow flute” that has a dragon’s head carved on the end cap. I’d love to own that one, if for no other reason than to hang it on my wall. Listening to this piece, you can imagine you’re having tea with the emperor of the Tang dynasty and complimenting his excellent choice of musicians.
Not all the pieces are old. “Spring Breeze” was composed in 1982 by Xu Guohua. With its lively plucking and tabla-like percussion (a shougu/hand drum), this spirited dance number has three sections: sort of an allegro, an andante, then an allegro presto. It’s the most immediately accessible piece on the CD, and I would have preferred more like it. Yet this is the best CD I’ve yet heard from the imported Rhymoi label. It is entertaining and undeniably authentic, without a trace of mawkish Western influence.
TrackList:
1. Guangling Melody [Song Dynasty Qin, Chiba/Shakuhachi]
2. Moon Over the Mountain Pass [Song Dynasty Qin, Xiao]
3. Beating Clothes [Yuan Dynasty Qin, Di]
4. Solitary Orchid [Tang Dynasty Qin]
5. Peaceful Evening Prelude [Qing Dynasty Qin, Xiao]
6. Clouds Over the Xiao and Xiang Rivers [Song Dynasty Qin]
7. Regarding Seagulls Without Ulterior Motives [Song Dynasty Qin, Xun]
8. Deep Night [Modern Qin, Big Drum]
9. Dialogue Between a Fisherman and Woodcutter [Ming Dynasty Qin]
10. Three Variations on the Plum Blossom Theme [Song Dynasty Qin, Xiao]
11. Flowing Water [Song Dynasty Qin]
12. Three Refrains on the Yangguan Pass [Song Dynasty Qin, Gongdi/Bow Flute
13. Moon Over the Mountain Pass [Tang Dynasty Qin]
14. Spring Breeze [Modern Qin, Shougu/Hand Drum]
— Peter Bates
