Chen Jun has been stunning audiences everywhere with his virtuoso erhu performances, not to mention his boyish good looks (which sort of throws people off). His playing technique is spirited and expressive, not to mention exhilarating to listen to. A member of the French Lille National Orchestra once compared him to Paganini, and when you hear him play, you will be stunned too.
The Naxos label is a budget classical music label with most CDs listed under $8.00. The label does an excellent job for exposing little known but obviously talented artists, such as Chen Jun, to a wider audience. The sound quality of many of its CDs is good to excellent, but occasionally there are a few misses. For this CD, the recording quality of the album is very good, but I felt the sound was a touch too soft, erhu especially. Also, the production of this album seemed too polished. However, the selection of material, and the excellent erhu performances are the overriding factors here, and this album is a big winner. Chen Jun is accompanied by the Central Virtuosi, conducted by Yang Chun-Lin.
Most of the pieces on the album are Chinese music classics with traditional melodies. One of the songs Chen Jun composed himself. Beautiful Coconut Tree Island is a very lyrical piece about being on a South Sea island surrounded by beautiful coconut trees. The music has a devil-may-care feel to it; you are lying in the sand enjoying the beauty of your surroundings. The piece was a good measure of Chen's ability as a composer. He seemed to incorporate a tiny bit of western melody technique into the piece.
There are several pieces on the album I enjoyed immensely, Shaking Red Candle Flame is among them. Lin Tian-Hua composed the piece in 1932 as his swansong. The music feels romantic, as if waxing nostalgic about a past no longer in existence--I wonder if Lin composed the piece as a statement about China at that time. The erhu is soulful and graceful, with the accompaniment by (Chinese guitar) a wonderful touch.
Another favorite of mine on this CD is Sunshine on Tashkurgan by Chen Gang featuring a fabulous Tajik melody. The erhu, accompanied by violin, and the rhythm of traditional Persian drums and matoqin, sounds so seductive. The images conveyed are romantic ones of horse riding in the lush plains of Tajikistan, with the Pamir Mountains of Afghanistan off in the distance. Halfway in, the slow seductive melody transitions into an exhilarating Southern Russian/Tajik dance, a melody Rimsky-Korsakov would have loved to incorporate into his works. Toward the end of this beautiful piece, the erhu is lightening fast as it flies through to the end, wow, simply amazing!
The last one, Galloping War-Horses is also good tune, and a demonstration of Chen Ju's mastery of erhu. The song begins with a rousing Chinese army melody accompanied by snare drums. There is a war, and horsemen are sweeping through the battlefield. In the midst of chaos, the erhu leaps forward with the clip clopping sounds of galloping horses recreated on wooden clappers. The music is simply lighter than air, and fast as lightening with erhu flying along in semiquavers with orchestra in tow. The song ends with a whimsical horse neigh recreated on erhu.
Track listing:
01 Shaking Red Candle Flame (Lin Tian-Hua)
02 Horse-Racing (Huang Hai-Huai)
03 River Waters (Shandong folk music)
04 Erquan Spring Reflecting The Moon (Hua Yan-Jun)
05 Beautiful Coconut Tree Island (Chen Jun)
06 Moonlight (Liu Tian-Hua)
07 Yizhihua (Shandong folk music)
08 Village Scenery (Chen Yao-Xing)
09 Sunshine On Tashkurgan (Chen Gang)
10 Galloping War-Horses (Chen Yao-Xing)
