Xiaogang Ye - Chamber Music (Fidelio Trio & Friends)

Information

Composer: Xiaogang Ye

1. Piano Trio, Op. 59
2. Gardenia for Pipa and String Quartet, Op. 78
3. Enchanted Bamboo for Piano Quintet, Op. 18
4. Datura for Flute and Piano Trio
5. Nine Run for Cello and Piano
6. Nine Horses for 10 Players, Op. 19

Fidelio Trio

    Darragh Morgan, violin

    Tim Gill, cello

    Mary Dullea, piano

David Alberman, violin

Carmen Flores, viola

Ronan Dunne, double bass

Anthony Robb, flute

Tom Blomfield, oboe

Anna Hashimoto, clarinet

Julian Warburton, percussion

George Barton, percussion

Jiang Yang, pipa

Thomas Kemp, conductor

Date: 2024

Label: Resonus Classics

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Review

The output of Xiaogang Ye (b1955) has become relatively familiar in the West, and not just at festivals or retrospectives of new music. Numerous works have been recorded (notably by BIS and Naxos), and this Resonus release makes available more of those for chamber forces.

Despite its generic title, the Piano Trio (2008) takes its cue from the Chinese myth of Pangu with his forming heaven and earth out of chaos, as this pursues a heady and often combative interplay through to a conclusion whose iridescent textures could presage a new beginning. Here it moves into Gardenia (2017), pipa extending the timbral possibilities of string quartet in music that uses melodies associated with Yueyang city to sometimes disorientating effect. Enchanted Bamboo (1989) is already characteristic in its fastidious handling of timbre and texture as this discreetly alludes to more than a century of Western chamber composition.

Although written in instalments, there is nothing episodic or even discontinuous about Datura (2006), the title referencing a houseplant whose decorative and hallucinogenic aspects seem equally reflected by the constantly varying juxtapositions of flute with string trio. The focus on just cello and piano enables Nine Run (2001/23) to demonstrate the sheer resourcefulness of Ye’s motivic thinking but also his immediacy of melodic writing at its climax, then the 10-strong ensemble of Nine Horses (1993) conveys his music at its most visceral and engrossing: qualities hardly inappropriate for a work inspired by encounters with the Peking (sic) Opera.

Only the Piano Trio has been recorded before, by the Haydn Trio. These finely attuned and recorded performances offer an ideal way into Ye’s alluring sound world.

— Richard Whitehouse

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Xiaogang Ye (born 23 September 1955) is a Chinese composer who was educated at the Central Conservatory of Music and the Eastman School of Music. His extensive oeuvre spans orchestral, chamber, stage and film music, often integrating Chinese cultural, philosophical and natural themes. Major works have been performed internationally, including The Song of the Earth and music premiered at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Ye has held prominent cultural and academic leadership roles in China and abroad, received numerous prestigious awards, and was the first Chinese composer signed by Schott Music.

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The Fidelio Trio regularly performs at major venues such as Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, and Ireland's National Concert Hall, as well as festivals and concert halls across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Renowned for championing contemporary music, they have premiered works by many leading composers and collaborate across artistic disciplines. Their extensive discography includes multiple Gramophone Editor's Choices and composer portrait albums. As educators, they give masterclasses worldwide and hold residencies at major universities. The Trio also directs an annual Winter Chamber Music Festival in Dublin.

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