A friend recently asked me for some classical piano recommendations. He doesn’t particularly care for purely “academic sounding” exercises, meaning he wants something with emotion and melody. Nor is he interested in easy-listening renditions of classical music replete with fake strings and horns.
I hear a lot of music via the Naxos Music Library, much more [...]
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Posted in All Posts, Asian Sound on August 3, 2007 | No Comments »
I recently subscribed to the Naxos Music Library - a significant upgrade from the Complete Tracks service on the Naxos website. Besides better quality sound, the NML holds inconceivably more music than the Naxos site itself.
These new opportunities for discovery led me to…
JAPAN Ongaku Masters (The): An Anthology of Japanese Classical Music, Vol. 1: Sacred Music
Here are my rough notes [...]
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Posted in All Posts, Asian Sound on February 20, 2007 | 1 Comment »
CHINA Jiao Jin-hai: Zheng (The Art of the), Vol. 1
CHINA Jiao Jin-hai: Zheng (The Art of the), Vol. 2
About the Composer/Performer:
Jin-hai Jiao composed and performed the Zheng music on this disc.
About the Music:
This is traditional sounding (at least to my ears) Chinese music. The Zheng is a Zither like instrument distinguished from its Chinese cousin, [...]
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Posted in All Posts, Asian Sound on October 6, 2006 | No Comments »
YUN: Chamber Symphony I / Tapis / Gong-Hu
About the Composer:
Isang Yun was a Korean composer (d.1995). His work offers a fusion of asian with western string orchestra.
About the Music:
My reaction to this disc was mixed. Nice background music, but its melodies aren’t the kind I’d deliberately focus on. I guess I’m saying that it’s not [...]
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Posted in All Posts, Asian Sound on August 18, 2006 | No Comments »
GU / MA: Fishermen’s Song of the East China Sea
This disc offers traditional Chinese sounds. I found it very enjoyable!
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Posted in All Posts, Asian Sound on August 17, 2006 | No Comments »
CHEN / HE: Butterfly Lovers Erhu Concerto (The) / CHU: The Yellow River Piano Concerto
I found the music on this disc to be more westernized (featuring a European-style string section), but no less enjoyable than Fisherman’s Song of the East China Sea.
I recall reading on the Naxos site that Klaus Heymann (Naxos’ founder) launched Naxos [...]
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