Yundi: The Red Piano
Recorded: 2–5 July 2011, Concert Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing
Yundi (piano)
China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra, Chen Zuohuang
Yundi's performance is accomplished, as are his performances of the other works in this programme, but, though some have a bucolic charm, most are pervasively saccharine.
Yundi: The Red Piano
Recorded: 2–5 July 2011, Concert Hall, National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing
Yundi (piano)
China NCPA Concert Hall Orchestra, Chen Zuohuang
Purchase product
Yundi's performance is accomplished, as are his performances of the other works in this programme, but, though some have a bucolic charm, most are pervasively saccharine.
About
For his first non-Chopin recording, YUNDI turns to repertoire from his native China on The Red Piano. Anchored by The Yellow River Concerto, the release also features traditional Chinese songs which have been arranged to reflect the lush Romantic tradition in which Yundi excels.
After his triumphs in the works of Western composers such as Chopin, Yundi turns to music of iconic status in his native China. Lavishly deploying folk melodies, and evoking epic vistas, the Yellow River Piano Concerto – a flower of Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution – has its source in a patriotic cantata, composed in 1939 by Paris-trained Xian Xinghai. Complementing the concerto are evocative arrangements of favourite songs that show Yundi at his most personal and beguiling.
Contents and tracklist
Awards and reviews
August 2012
Yundi's performance is accomplished, as are his performances of the other works in this programme, but, though some have a bucolic charm, most are pervasively saccharine.
10th February 2012
[The Yellow River Concerto is] grossly sentimental when not impressionistic, though Yundi's dulcimer-like trilling in the third movement is impressive. The dozen or so shorter pieces are heavy on the wistful rippling, with bursts of jolly industry bringing to mind the cheerfully labouring masses.
