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About Yao Chen, Composer In works of various dimensions, Yao Chen seeks paths toward transcendence. His music, always ritual in nature, eschews contemporary vogues and instead aims at a timelessness and an otherness that exists beyond the standard categories – music for the moment, but also music for what has been and music for what lies ahead. Whether his work is brittle or forceful, or often both in coexistence, melancholy and a sense of wonder are recurring characteristics, as is an internationalist orientation grounded in a quest for maximal musical meaning. His perceptions on musical time, timbre, intonation, pulsation, and expression are always at frontiers: between the old and the new, between the East and the West, between irrational mysticism and rational logic. While devoting himself mainly to the field of contemporary art music, Yao also experiments with other genres, writing music for films and theatre productions. Cross- cultural and cross-disciplinary concepts permeate his creative inspiration and compositional output, presenting his understanding of the value of new music in enlivening global cultures.
Recommended Chinese Chamber music releases
‘This is an extremely rewarding disc which will surprise anyone who thinks of percussion works as being about rhythm, noise and aggression.’ – MusicWeb International
‘All five pieces are very well played by the sensitive and virtuosic New Zealand String Quartet… A very enjoyable disc.’ – ClassicsToday.com 9/9
‘All of this is well crafted and exceptionally well played.’ – American Record Guide
‘The music of Chen Yi is quite fascinating and offers a unique mesh of Eastern & Western sounds and traditions. …it is a most rewarding discovery.’ – BandWorld
For the full list of Chinese music titles on Naxos, visit www.naxos.com/CatalogueSubCat/?cat=categ&name=Chinese_Music
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