Spring, River, Flower, Moon, Night

Min Xiao-Fen | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: January 1, 1997
• Label: Asphodel LTD
• Copyright: (c) Asphodel
• Total Length: 1:01:55
• Genres: Folk/Traditional Folk, International/Compilations, International/Far East & Asia, International/North America
• ASIN: B000VY79E0
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just buy it. You'll love it =), November 19, 2004

By 

Pharoah S. Wail (Inner Space) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Spring River Flower Moon Night (Audio CD)

I should be flogged for not reviewing this disc years earlier. Hearing Min on this disc was one reason I bought (and reviewed 3 or 4 years ago) her great Viper disc with Derek Bailey. I don't know why I didn't get around to this one, as it is a treasure chest of fantastic playing and tone, as well as engaging melodies.

I personally tend to favor the WEN style over the WU. The WEN style stuff is just flat-out gorgeous more often than not. The WU has more of an explosive, in-your-faceness to it that I enjoy, but it doesn't move me as deeply as the WEN.

If you have heard the Viper disc, these are 2 very different discs. Viper being all free-improvisation, while here you get a mini, sonic history of China. Sometimes gorgeous and gentle, sometimes violent and overwhelming... it's all here.

Then again, if you've never heard the pipa, or Min in particular, this is the perfect place to begin.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful, May 6, 2007

By 

Chelsea M. Zahn (East coast, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spring River Flower Moon Night (Audio CD)

The instrument of pipa is very effective in telling stories. Scenes and emotion in the music are so vivid that it makes you feel that you are part of the story. Listen to "King Chu sheds his armor" and you will understand. I would provide some Chinese translation of the song titles but apparently amazon doesn't support Chinese character input. "Zhao Ju crosses the frontier" and "spring, river, flower, moon, night" are well known Chinese classics.

Personally I felt that she over stressed the powerfulness of the instrument at times. As a result, the melody of some of the pieces are not as smooth as it was written to be. If you are looking for "easy-listening" this is not the album you want to buy.