What are your thoughts on the Yellow River Piano Concerto?

[mandarin_pianist]

A masterpiece not well known in the realm of classical music; however, it is a household name among chinese musicians, and it stands as one of the most important musical works and cultural symbols to the People's Republic of China.

[pianistimo]

the schukyll river here is green.  i don't know if it can be attributed to the ducks or is just alge from the sun hitting water.  anyway, i wouldn't go swimming it in.  it might make a nice theme for a concerto.

ps i won't ask what's making that river yellow.

[mandarin_pianist]

Pianist Yin Chengzong (1948-), who finished 2nd place at the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962, recorded this piece with Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra under conductor Adrian Leaper in 1971. Well worth a listen or two...

[stevie]

yep, its really great, not profound or complicated, but just really fun.

[pianistimo]

as long as it's not dedicated to mao tse tung or somebody like that.  of course, culturally different music than our own is always appealing since it is 'exotic.'  especially the symphonic part (probably).  am curious what instruments are involved.  can you get  a regular symphony to play it?

[ted]

I really like this work. It moves me on a very deep level, especially the second movement, "Ode to the Yellow River". The recording I have is by Eileen Huang and the China Central Philharmonic. I couldn't care less whether or not it was propaganda or what its social background was. If I stopped to think about those things I'd end up not enjoying anything.

Admittedly I am biased in that I like Chinese music in general, especially Beijing Opera and classical long zither music of the T'ang, Sung, Yuan and Ming dynasties. Coincidentally, this afternoon I found a CD of Chinese zither music played by Michelle Ng and couldn't resist buying it. I am just about to have a good listen now actually.

Anyway, it strikes me that most of the comments and reviews I have read about the Yellow River Concerto are biased nonsense. A couple of musicians have even suggested that it would be better used as "mere" film accompaniment for a John Wayne Western. When you really think about this comment, obviously intended to do little except insult, you realise it is in fact a compliment because a good number of European classical works would also make splendid film music for John Wayne pictures.

As with all music, I just ignore everything and everybody and listen to the sound and the sound alone. I like the sound of the Yellow River Concerto very much.

[mandarin_pianist]

There is a lot of chinese history (a nation in crisis, under war) behind this piece which makes it so profound and moving especially for chinese countrymen. The reviewer of the piece probably didn't research much into the piece. IMO, this piece can only be played properly after some research is taken including appreciating the cantata version (The orchestral version is based on a cantata...of course it's in chinese so...)
I think there are some reasons why western musicians tend to shy away from Yellow River Piano Concerto-not because it is not challenging. OR They probably just don't know it...

[phillip21]

I too have always enjoyed hearing the 'Yellow River Concerto'.  I would like to be able to get hold of some solo works in the stame style - I already have a very few, eg the 'Sinkiang Capriccio' but would like to know if anyone has come across any albuims available outside China.

[princessdecadence]

I only know of it recently - am not entirely cultured like that. *blush* I'll have a proper listen to it. 

Despite the clever comment made by pianistimo (on the schukyll) *rolls eyes*, I think there's a lot of story behind that music I should think.  I sure hope with all my heart that the piece is NOT dedicated to Mao Zedong - if it's a form of accolade to the man, I'll puke a bit.  Not a fan of the man as you can tell. 

I also think it should involve a few chinese instruments.

@phillip21 - If I can recall correctly, the concerto was recorded by a Norwegian orchestra.  I'm not entirely sure but I'll find out for you.

[pianohopper]

I have a recording of this played by one of the composers (Yin Chengzong) and the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, led by Adrian Leaper.  It also has, oh, about a dozen Chinese piano solo pieces, which are also very nice.

This concerto is, I think, underestimated.  Very rarely played in concert, if at all, here in the states.  Although not the most difficult concerto, it is definitely more advanced than any of the Mozart concertos, in my opinion.  There can be found in it a lot of Western influence, and I have connected many parts of it to other concerto or piano compositions. 

[mandarin_pianist]

I have the sheet music; in a way it is like Mozart's music, in its hidden difficulty.

[pianistimo]

sorry to sound culturally biased.  in reality, i'm very open to all kinds of music and was joking a bit.  i AM curious what the words to the cantata would be.  it was my understanding that until recently (or maybe even still), it was fairly illegal to use church cantatas (or anything dedicated to God) because chinese emperors way back in history considered their own word the law.  they did not want any other form of government over their own.  many chinese people came to the usa to be able to have religious freedom.  maybe today it is different.

when i play a recital, i try to play music that i am best at.  perhaps for people of other lands, they are best at playing their national music, too.  it would be great to hear a pianist who plays that piece, as well as understands the background.  i don't consider western music the only music or even the best music (just because of western harmony).  what probably makes music alive is the feeling one gets from hearing and playing it.  i think this is why we have national anthems.  to have pride in our country.  the songs remind us of good times or of history that favored us at one time or another.  the olympics remind us of a lot of the national anthems and it is quite interesting to hear the various countries anthems.

[princessdecadence]

Here are 3 recordings that I know:

1. The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy with Daniel Epstein on the Piano - RCA (also released in SACD format for you audiophiles) 2001 - only the concerto (Hong Kong) This one has Eugene Ormandy's "The East Is Red" which is combined with the Internationale.  It's fits beautifully - in praise of the victory of Mao's 'concept of people's war'. 

2. Central Philharmonic Society, conductor: Yen Liangkun - Cantata and The concerto: China Central Ensemble of National Music, conducted by Yan Huichang, piano - Bao Huiqiao - Bailey Record 1993 (Hong Kong)

3. Cantata - the same as number 2. Concerto: Chinese Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuan Fang with Shi Shu-cheng on the piano - ROI productions 1993 (Hong Kong)

(It's for China - not solely for Mao - so it's cool) 

[omei]

Yin Chengzong gave his North America debut on Sept.28, 1983, at the Carnegie Hall in New York. The program included sonatas by D. Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven, and Liszt. He offered three encore pieces. When he came back to the stage, after playing music by Scriabin and Moszkowski, there was a burst of “Huang He!” from the balcony, and immediately responses were heard at every corner. The rippling of “Huang He! ” made by those Yellow River enthusiasts impressed Mr. Yin as well as the western audience. It was a memorable scene. To conclude his recital, he played <The Happy Luosuo>, a piano solo piece composed by himself.

[jlh]

We can't forget THIS performer... apparently he released this on CD as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42rMuBCVyg&feature=related

[faulty_damper]

I don't like it.  Cheese is spewing out of every pentatonic chord.

[s_bussotti]

It's cute, but a bit cheesy.

I guess you could say it's a bit too populist for my tastes

[rachfan]

This concerto certainly is not very memorable either.  I heard Lang Lang play it in the style of Liberace.  I can't imagine the piece will have much staying power in years to come. 

[gerry]

Regarding the previous video: If all those other pianos (perhaps Yamaha's factory output for the day?) were to glide together and form a tap-dancing stage, they would be sued for copyright infringement by the Busby Berkeley estate! This spectacle tends to perpetuate the now "populist" nature of this once banned, reworked-by-committee cantata. Perhaps the original composition harbors a deeper meaning for the Chinese artists but what I see on this video does little for me.

[indutrial]

This concerto certainly is not very memorable either.  I heard Lang Lang play it in the style of Liberace.  I can't imagine the piece will have much staying power in years to come. 

I'm at the fourth movement now on Youtube and it's pretty much one of the most ingenuine-sounding pieces of music I've ever heard. When I first heard Sibelius' Finlandia, that at least sounded like a nationalist work with some local roots and underpinnings. When I think of pretty much any example of Chinese folk music I've heard in my entire life, this doesn't bring any of it to the fore. Any small spots of Chinese folk culture are quickly blown aside with the very Western-sounding pomp and grandiosity of the piano parts and the lengthy group portions that sound like they would be better-suited for the soundtrack of that movie with Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan in the Wild West. With the exception of the Chinese flute intro to the second movement, the parts on those instruments are just relegated to playing basic melodies atop early-romantic sounding harmonic changes.

If it tells me one thing, it screams that China had far less trouble suppressing its artists' natural inclinations than Russia or Poland did. One can certainly notice socialist realism pervading Soviet works from the 1920s-1950s, but I don't remember it coming quite as far into blatent populism as this does. The fact that the piece is also a wretchedly massive spectacle (at least the performance I'm watching) makes it even more difficult to enjoy.

[sharon_f]

Normally I am a little bothered when someone resurrects a nearly 3-year old thread, however, it made me smile to notice one of the quasi-psychotic responses from pianistimo.

the schukyll river here is green.  i don't know if it can be attributed to the ducks or is just alge from the sun hitting water.  anyway, i wouldn't go swimming it in.  it might make a nice theme for a concerto.

ps i won't ask what's making that river yellow.

[retrouvailles]

If this piano concerto lives on and other piano concertos written around that time that are actually BETTER don't live on, I fear greatly for the new classical music scene in the future. However, it is charlatans like Lang Lang that are making this inevitable.

[indutrial]

If this piano concerto lives on and other piano concertos written around that time that are actually BETTER don't live on, I fear greatly for the new classical music scene in the future. However, it is charlatans like Lang Lang that are making this inevitable.

I don't fear for it, as the CD market is crumbling under it's own failures and the independent labels are becoming empowered by things like E-Music and Amazon's brilliant new MP3 store, not to mention the blogosphere, which I would argue is keeping a lot of good modern music (played by good players) out in the open, at least for the people who care. Lang Lang's sh*tty CDs will hopefully just rot on the shelves in Borders stores all over the country and things will level out. As for China, I've given up hope for that country being able to contribute anything artistically exciting to the world. At least they won't be able to until they drop some more of the communist bullshit. Their best talents can't become truely individual artists until they get the hell away from the censors and go to work in some place like NYC or Paris.

[lohshuhan]

as long as it's not dedicated to mao tse tung or somebody like that.  of course, culturally different music than our own is always appealing since it is 'exotic.'  especially the symphonic part (probably).  am curious what instruments are involved.  can you get  a regular symphony to play it?

from what you say, i'm curious as to whether you've even seen the score to this concerto.  its getting quite common and easy to find in my country, even its full score. 

2ndly,

can you get  a regular symphony to play it?

[lohshuhan]

I also think it should involve a few chinese instruments.

i'll check this out for you.  but from what i recall from the full score i saw a few months back, there are NO chinese instruments in the symphonic orchestral version of it. 

there are, however, arrangements for chinese orchestra with piano. 

[lohshuhan]

I have the sheet music; in a way it is like Mozart's music, in its hidden difficulty.

we both know each other in real life.  you don't need to hide it. 

i would like to see how YOU tackle the difficulty.  lets start with the 2nd movement. 

[lohshuhan]

Here are 3 recordings that I know:

1. The Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted by Eugene Ormandy with Daniel Epstein on the Piano - RCA (also released in SACD format for you audiophiles) 2001 - only the concerto (Hong Kong) This one has Eugene Ormandy's "The East Is Red" which is combined with the Internationale.  It's fits beautifully - in praise of the victory of Mao's 'concept of people's war'. 

2. Central Philharmonic Society, conductor: Yen Liangkun - Cantata and The concerto: China Central Ensemble of National Music, conducted by Yan Huichang, piano - Bao Huiqiao - Bailey Record 1993 (Hong Kong)

3. Cantata - the same as number 2. Concerto: Chinese Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuan Fang with Shi Shu-cheng on the piano - ROI productions 1993 (Hong Kong)

(It's for China - not solely for Mao - so it's cool) 

i think you left out Lang Lang's recording on DG, which included a few chinese pieces too. 

[webern78]

It's trash.

[sjskb]

Hi guys, do check out my videos of this, recently performed in march 2008.

in my opinion, without knowledge of the history and culture of the piece, it might sound like a cross between tchaikovsky (with the parallel octave passages), slight hints of rachmaninoff in the grander sections, and of course, very chinese in its pentatonic melodies!

For the record, there are two chinese instruments written in the full score, namely the Pipa (which sounds like a banjo in the 4th movement) and the beautiful chinese flute solo at the beginning of the 3rd movement.

The link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/sjskb26

hope you all like it.