Various: Whirling Dance (BIS)

Whirling Dance
Works for Flute and Traditional Chinese Orchestra

CHUNG YIU-KWONG: Whirling Dance for flute and Chinese orchestra; Concerto for Flute and Chinese Orchestra; Traditional (arr. ZHOU CHENGLONG): The Thivats of Autumn, arranged for flute and small Chinese instrumental ensemble
MA SHUI-LONG (arr. CHEN HSUAN-HO): Bamboo Flute Concerto, arranged for piccolo and Chinese orchestra
HUANG YIJUN (arr. PENG XIUWEN): Fair Flowers under Full Moon, arranged for piccolo and Chinese orchestra
DENG YU-XIAN (arr. QU CHUNQUAN): Longing for the Spring Breeze

Sharon Bezaly, flute and piccolo;
Taipei Chinese Orchestra, Chung Yiu-Kwong
Liu Hung-Yu, guzheng (Chinese zither); Tsai Yu-Feng, yangqin (Chinese cimbalon); Yeh Shu-Chen, zhongruan (Chinese 4-string moon-shaped lute)

• Together with the Taipei Chinese Orchestra and composer-conductor Chung Yiu-Kwong, Sharon Bezaly explores the sonic possibilities of the combination of Western flute and traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu, guzheng, yangqin and zhongruan. Transverse (side-blown) flutes (typically made of bamboo) have long been important in Chinese music for more than 2000 years.

• The sparkling music on this disc includes two newly composed works by Chung Yiu-Kwong, both dedicated to Bezaly, as well as a the arrangement of Ma Shui-Long’s concerto for bamboo flute and symphony orchestra into a concerto for piccolo and Chinese orchestra.

• Of the remaining three shorter works, The Thivats of Autumn is an arrangement for chamber ensemble of a traditional Chinese classical tune for pipa, depicting the sadness experienced by Wang Zhaojun, one of ‘The Four Beauties’ of ancient China, as she is forced to by the Emperor Yuan (48-33 BC) to marry a foreign ruler and leave her country.