China: Music of the Pipa

Chinese Traditional (Composer), Huiran Wang (Composer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Chinese Traditional, Huiran Wang
• Audio CD (April 17, 1991)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nonesuch
• ASIN: B000005IWR
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,270 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #69 in Music > World Music > Far East & Asia > China

Track Listings

1. Ambush from Ten Sides, traditional melody (a.k.a. "Ambush on All Sides"

2. Fei ha dian cui (Floating Petals Decorating the Green Leaves)

3. Ping sha luo yan (Wild Geese Descend on the Smooth Sand)

4. Gao shan liu shui (High Mountain, Flowing Streams)

5. Yang chun bai xue (Snow on a Sunny Spring Day)

6. Yue er gao (The Moon on High)

7. Yi dance [Dance of the Yi Tribe]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pentatonic Bluegrass!, October 4, 2008

By 

Giordano Bruno (Wherever I am, I am.) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: China: Music of the Pipa (Audio CD)

I hope Chinese music lovers won't find the title of this review demeaning. The joy of listening to really good 'plucking' on an instrument like the pipa, in the hands of a master of his/her tradition, transcends all cultural boundaries. The pipa does in fact sound something like a banjo in timbre and a lot like a mandolin in playing technique. Track 5 on this CD, "Snow on a Sunny Spring Day," will definitely win the hearts and ears of bluegrass fans.

Chinese classical music, for an outsider like me, has a way of sounding very close to its folk roots while also obviously being very sophisticated in technique. The titles of the compositions on this CD, if the translations are accurate, clearly convey the spirit of the music, a contemplative rapture at the beauties of nature. The only previous reviewer found that spirit "soothing," but I find it more exhilarating - cheerful and open-faced.

This Explorer Series of recordings is a treasure trove of the very finest pre-pop-influenced music of many of the great and endangered classical traditions of world cultures. I've already reviewed two of the series - Music of Iran and Shakuhachi music. A listening comparison of this Chinese performance on pipa with the Japanese performance on shakuhachi is worth a whole college course in cultural diversity, as well as being a beautiful musical experience -- Confucian earthliness versus Zen other-worldliness. Lucky us! We get to hear the sounds of both!

3 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Soothing..., March 4, 2003

By 

Andi (Astoria, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: China: Music of the Pipa (Audio CD)

That's the best way I can describe this wonderful music. It is great background music and very much enjoyable as one cooks, paints, meditates, or just relaxes. It is very pleasant to have when greeting guests for that Chinese meal you prepare. This music should be played in restaurants, instead of pop music (as many Chinese restaurants play pop). It would certainly be more inviting...