Liu Fang: live session VG Buiten Spelen
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- Liu Fang plays the piece ‘A Vulture Hunting Swans'.
‘Empress of the pipa’, they call Liu Fang. Few play the lute-like Chinese instrument as virtuosic and sophisticated as she does - even in the cold wind, playing outside ‘De Ster’, a mill in the Dutch city of Utrecht.
This session was recorded during festival Le Guess Who? 2017.
In Buiten Spelen, produced by music program Vrije Geluiden, musicians play live sessions in an uncommon setting: outside. Whether it's in our own garden, on the roof or at the pond, Buiten Spelen gives musicians the freedom to experiment, try new material, play with guest musicians.... or just play some fine music. You can find all the sessions at www.vpro.nl/bui...
Great videography Very good tremolo!!Unique musician Impressive what a talent
I don't know a better artist or musician in the world today. She flutters above the sewer of mainstream music with the beauty of a gentle bird. I had the privilege of once seeing her perform live; were it not for that I may not have understood the complexity of feeling, the depth and sudden changes in her performances. I could go on.. ..I have, sorry hehe
[Liu Fang: live session VG Buiten Spelen]
Any string-instrumentalist would/should appreciate and admire her virtuosity.
Any improvisational musician would/should appreciate and admire her musicality.
She can be compared to top notch jazz musicians. Amazing! Actually scary.
it should be noted that 0 of this performance or any traditional Chinese Pipa music is improvised, it is all memorized compositions! This piece was written by master Lin Shicheng
@@world_musician : _ Wow, it’s an eye-opening fact! I can see you play the same instrument, Chris, so you must know it.
I play blues and jazz on my guitar, and both blues and jazz are mostly improvisational. So, I assumed it’s also played by improvisation like some of Indian music.
Improvised or otherwise, this is still very impressive. Anyway, thanks for the info.
I'm in love.....
Unique musician 👏🏻
Impressive what a talent 👏🏻👏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you for filming and uploading this excellent performance of a fascinating and very rarely performed piece.
Further information about the piece Liu is playing in this video, which you could add to the video description above to facilitate future searching (including those searching in the Chinese language):
"Haiqing Na Tian'e" 《海青拿天鹅》 (Gyrfalcon Catches a Swan)
@dbadagna do you know why this is a rarely performed piece? also do you know when this was originally composed and who composed it?
Like Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata or "Grosse Fuge," it is a very long and complex piece (especially when played at its original length), which contains sounds and techniques that, even to modern ears, may sound outlandish, grotesque, or violent. Learning this piece may involve a significant investment of time and effort, which the player may not consider worthwhile if the audience may react with shock rather than amazement, so most pipa players choose to focus on other, more famous martial pieces such as "Shi Mian Mai Fu" and "Ba Wang Xie Jia."
The piece, which depicts the use of trained birds of prey (gyrfalcons) to hunt swans, an ancient way of life practiced as part of the culture of Central Asian nomadic groups such as the Mongols, and later adopted by the Manchus as well as the Chinese aristocracy as a royal pastime, features the use of such unusual techniques as "throttling" the neck of the pipa by grabbing all four strings with the left hand and shaking the whole instrument while tremoloing vigorously with the right hand, producing a sound effect reminiscent of a swan being strangled. The piece is said to date back to the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), during which time the Mongols were in fact the rulers of China, though the earliest scores we have for it probably date from the Qing Dynasty. I don't think the name of the original composer is known.
If you are interested, here is an ensemble version of the same piece (the first video is the performance, and the second video is a rehearsal prior to that performance, both from San Jose, California, USA):
ua-cam.com/video/mCgKYyBg_IA/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/76ofxsHk6-k/v-deo.html
Here is another pipa solo version:
ua-cam.com/video/Y9a2xOICBt8/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/bksaQu6ZFok/v-deo.html
The liner notes to this album:
folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/unesco/UNES08071.pdf
And the player's bio, from the album's liner notes:
The soloist Chen Zeming grew up in Shanghai in a family which loved sizhu (southern string and wind ensemble). Entering the Central Conservatory in 1955, he majored in the pipa under Cao Anhe, Li Tingsong and Lin Shicheng. In 1958, he went with the Tianjin Song and Dance Ensemble on a performing tour of Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and other countries. Graduating from the Central Conservatory in 1960, he joined the orchestra of the Central Experimental Opera. Mr. Chen started teaching in 1972, and has been working at the Central Conservatory since 1974. He has done extensive work on the Haiqing na tian'e, resulting in a complete live version of the piece according to the Yangzhengxuan pipapu (Pipa Notations of Yangzhengxuan).
@dbadagna thanks! I've heard Chen Zemin's Haiqing Na Tian'e. Thanks for your explanation ! I actually really needed it
Do you know about the duo CD by Lin Shicheng (Chen Zemin's teacher) and his student Gao Hong (who now lives in Minnesota, USA)? It contains a shorter version of this piece, and was just rereleased last week by the ARC Music label.
store.arcmusic.co.uk/hunting-eagles-catching-swans.html
Very good tremolo!!
Great videography