During China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Western music was forbidden, and only eight 'Model Plays' and revolutionary songs were permitted.
Instruments
Chloe Chua, the violinist on this recording, performs on a Giovanni Battista Guadagnini violin from Milan, 1753, on loan from the Rin Collection.
Compositional Technique
Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1 features advanced violin techniques like double-stopped harmonics, tenths, left-hand plucking, and the ricochet bowing technique.
Composer Biography
Niccolò Paganini, known as the 'Devil's Violinist,' cultivated a mysterious stage persona and invented new violin techniques, such as left-hand plucking and the ricochet bowing.
Compositional Technique
Chen Gang's "Sunshine Over Tashkurgan" incorporates Persian-style maqams (modes) and two Tajik melodies, "Beautiful Taxkorgan" and "Spring in the Pamirs," to evoke Central Asian landscapes.
Composer Biography
Chen Gang, co-composer of the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, is the son of Chen Gexin, a noted composer of popular music whose song "Rose, Rose, I Love You" was a major hit in the USA.
Composition History
The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto premiered in Shanghai as part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
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Legacy
Violin Concertos by Black Composers Through the Centuries
