Music Talks

The traditional Chinese lunar calendar divides the year into 24 solar terms. Start of Autumn (or 立秋 in Chinese), the 13th solar term of the year, begins this year on August 8th. Hence in this episode of Music Talks, we pick for you four traditional Chinese musical pieces to see off the summer and welcome the autumn.

1. Fire Phoenix, konghou by Wu Lin (CNTO)

2. Jasmine, performed by CNTO

3. The Wind Kissing the Clouds, by Lao Luo

4. Dance of the Yao People, composed by Liu Tieshan & Mao Yuan, performed by CNTO

Special thanks to China National Traditional Orchestra (CNTO) and Lao Luo.

Respectively originating from the west and the east, the cello and the erhu are both bowed instring instruments. In fact, their timbres are said to be consistent with that of the human voice: such that the cello can go as low and as deep as a gentlemen's voice while the erhu's sound can emulate and be just as bright as a lady's voice- both wonderfully narrating the emotions of the melody... In this episode of Music Talks, we'll hear four music performances led by the erhu and cello and accompanied by the China National Traditional Orchestra.

1. Londonderry Air (arr. for erhu & cello)

2. Another Side of the River (arr. for erhu & cello)

3. The Platform of Chrysanthemum (arr. for erhu & cello)

4. Look at Each Other (erhu & cello)

Four traditional Chinese music pieces are recommended to you in this week's 'Music Talks'. Enjoy!

1. Lan Hua Hua Ballade, erhu solo by Jin Yue

2. Road to Heaven, composed by Lin Hai, and pipa solo by Zhao Cong

3. Water-Lady Shui Yu, konghou solo by Wu Lin

4. Beijing Memories, pipa solo by Wu Yuxia

Have a listen to four konghou music pieces selected from the instrumentalist Wu Lin's albums that are pleasing to your ears.

1. Earth- Fu Ni the drunken man

2. Wind- the youth patrolling the mountain

3. Spring night on a moonlight river

4. Bells ringing in the rain

What's the correlation between the Chinese and the western harp? How did the Konghou come into China? What's the secret of the instrument that can produce Chinese style melody?... All in today's Music Talks.

In the following three episodes, we'll bring you close to an ancient harp, the konghou that can produce heavenly sound. Today, Wu Lin, the konghou instrumentalist from China National Traditional Orchestra brings you a classic konghou suite that was composed upon the same-name painting of the Song Dynasty, 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival'.

Today, we continue to explore the charm of the erhu via listening to a number of film soundtracks you might be familiar with. The music pieces are selected from the album 'Spring, Autumn and Warring States' of Jin Yue, the chief erhu instrumentalist with China National Traditional Orchestra.

Today, we explore the erhu, a bowed string instrument with Jin Yue, the chief erhu instrumentalist with China National Traditional Orchestra. Jianhao, a Malaysian Chinese who learns erhu in Beijing, shares with us his love and dream for Erhu.

In the following three episodes, we explore the erhu, a bowed string instrument. Today, we appreciate the erhu's classic piece, 'Moon Reflected over a Fountain', and tell its touching story behind it, with Jin Yue, the chief erhu instrumentalist with China National Traditional Orchestra.

We continue to explore the guqin and how the instrument talks in its own way. In addition to a Chinese guqin maestro presenting you a traditional guqin classic, a Chinese post-rock band Zhao Ze, aka 'the Swamp', has introduced the electrified guqin into rock and roll. Cool~!