Yes, sticklers will probably question including a recording which plays back as a standard 44.1K/16-bit compact disc in our Hi-Res Section. But the amazing thing about all these K2 HD releases is that the JVC engineers at Flair Studios in Japan have somehow found a way to upsample classic audiophile analog recordings to 192K/24-bit and then super-bit-map them down to the Red Book standard, retaining most of the enhanced fidelity. No special decoding is required and they play on any CD player.
This new F.I.M. release, however, goes even further. Rather than being a super-remastering of a historic analog recording, it is a brand new digital recording made just last year at George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound studios, with engineering by Reference Recordings’ whiz Keith Johnson and mastering by Paul Stubblebine. This studio is known for its extremely low noise floor and is therefore used for many classical solo and chamber music recordings. Using gear of his own design, Johnson is known for achieving amazing presence and realism in his recordings.
This is the first Chinese recording using the K2 HD process and should appeal strongly to audio buffs of Chinese background thruout the world. Wei Li – the world’s leading guzheng soloist – brings together 30 years as a virtuoso performer, composer and arranger, and this is just the latest in a series of albums he has recorded for F.I.M.
The ancient Chinese instrument the guzheng is a member of the zither family. The prefix gu- means “ancient.” It is the parent instrument of the Japanese koto as well as the Korean gayageum and the Vietnamese dan tranh. One of its differences from the koto is its use of steel strings instead of the silk the instrument had originally. They make its sound more hard-edged than the koto. Though originally only six strings, more have been added over time and most now have from 15 to 25 strings. The guzheng is tuned to the five-note pentatonic scale, but the “missing” two notes can be accessed by pressing on the strings to the left of the bridges, thus allowing the playing of Western music. (Lou Harrison was one of the few Western composers who wrote specifically for the guzheng.) Wei Li plays three different instruments on this disc and two of them have 21 strings, which allows for a four-octave range. The many strings of different sizes and the curved sound board of the instrument create a very wide pitch range for the instrument, as well as a wide dynamic range. The close miking on the recording portrays a guzheng larger than it really is, but makes the listening experience almost orchestral in its variety and impact.
The disc presents four suites of three or four movements, separated by shorter solo pieces. Most come from Chinese folklore, and there are paragraphs of interesting notes on each in the lavish booklet bound into the K2 HD album. Just as with the koto, the expressive power of this string instrument is quite astonishing, and it has an edge on the Japanese instrument due to its metal strings providing more powerful transients on their attack. Yet the quiet lyrical passages can be just as soft and delicate as on the koto. I have to admit that upon seeing this album I cringed a bit, seeing that it featured entirely a solo Chinese stringed instrument. I probably had the guzheng confused with the single-string erhu (by the way one of the selections is arranged from a song originally played on the erhu). When I heard the broad range of exquisite string sounds cascading from the speakers I was set aright; even over an hour of these sounds is no different – perhaps offering even a wider variety – than a similar solo virtuoso classical guitar recital. And the realism of the K2HD recording is truly astounding – never mind that the final format is still a standard 44.1K/16-bit CD.
TrackList:
1. Red Cliff Capriccio: I. The Great River Goes East
2. Red Cliff Capriccio: II. Meditation of the Battle of Red Cliff
3. Red Cliff Capriccio: III. Scene of Red Cliff
4. Red Cliff Capriccio: IV. Consolation
5. Suwu, the Shepherd
6. Waltzing Clouds: I. Solo Waltzing
7. Waltzing Clouds: II. Duet Waltzing
8. Waltzing Clouds: III. Group Waltzing
9. The Lonely Maid Ballad
10. Prelude to the Dream of the Red Chamber
11. Beautiful Evening
12. Song of the Mountain: I. Song of Love
13. Song of the Mountain: II. Song of Joy
14. Song of the Mountain: III. Drinking Song
15. The Hungry Horse
16. Snowy River: I. Introduction – "Emptiness"
17. Snowy River: II. Adagio – "Perserverance"
18. Snowy River: III. Allegro – "Will Power"
19. Snowy River: IV. Finale – "Determination"
20. Lover’s Ear
– John Sunier
