December 15, 2008

Have you ever heard classical guitar playing Butterfly Lovers, one of the most well-known Chinese legend that has been made into different forms of arts such as film, opera and violin concerto? If not, probably you can try to listen to classical guitarist Yang Xuefei’s arrangement of Butterfly Lovers (Falling in Love), in which she has employed various classical techniques such as tremolo as well as fully made use of the guitar’s tonal colour to get to the lyrical heart of the piece. It’s a pity that she did not perform this piece last night at her recital at the Hong Kong City Hall, though fortunately she did perform another traditional Chinese music Yi Dance , a piece originally composed for Chinese instrument, Pipa, in 1960 by the Chinese composer Wang Huiran based on the folk culture of the Yi people of southern China. Yang imitated the sound of Pipa in certain parts of the score, which reflected the versatility of the guitar. The transcription of traditional Chinese music into guitar repertory may be a recent phenomenon but I believe anybody who happens to listen to these pieces will discover not only how penetrating the sound of the guitar can be but also how different instruments can reveal the various aspects of a piece of music.

For the story of Butterfly Lovers, you can go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly_Lovers

Written by: hiuylee