Gateways. Chen – Kreisler – Rachmaninov

Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and conductor Long Yu collaborate with Maxim Vengerov for their second album on Deutsche Grammophon. The star violinist plays The Joy of Suffering, a graceful and melodic violin concerto written for him by French-Chinese composer Qigang Chen, as well as Kreisler's Tambourin Chinois. The orchestra also plays Chen's orchestral suite Wu Xing (The Five Elements), as well as Rachmaninov's colourful Symphonic Dances.

Featuring

Long Yu
Maxim Vengerov
Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
Qigang Chen
Fritz Kreisler

Did you know?

1/7

Compositional Technique

Qigang Chen's work 'Wu Xing' (The Five Elements) is a five-movement suite that portrays water, wood, fire, earth, and metal, aiming to establish relationships where each element generates the next.

Composer Biography

Qigang Chen, a composer featured on this album, was the last pupil of the great French composer Olivier Messiaen, studying with him for four years in France.

Historical Context

After the Russian Revolution in 1917, many Russian and Jewish musicians came to Shanghai, teaching and opening schools, which helped build the city's music education system.

Composition History

Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances of 1940, written after he went into exile in the USA, is considered his most American work, yet it also draws on his Russian roots.

Performer Biography

Long Yu, the Music Director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, studied piano with his grandfather, the composer Ding Shande, before training at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music and in Berlin.

Historical Context

The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest Western-style orchestras, predating the London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, and Boston Symphony Orchestra.