MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             

REVIEW


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


Buy through MusicWeb
for £12 postage paid World-wide.

Musicweb Purchase button

Sound Clips and Downloads

Traditional
Music for the Qin Zither
Yu qiao wenda - Dialogue of fisherman and woodcutter [9.42]
Zuiyu changwan - Evening song of the drunken fisherman [4.38]
Liangxiao yin - Ode to the fine night [4.31]
Yi guren - Remembering an old friend [9.03]
Yangguan sandie - Three variations on the Yang pass [5.44]
Pingsha luoyan - Wild geese descending on the sandbank [8.21]
Quifeng ci - Lyric on the autumn wind [5.07]
Changmen yuan - Lament from the Changmen palace [6.05]
Liushui - Flowing waters [11.14]
Improvisation for Michael Owen by Lin Youren [5.48]
Lin Youren (zither)
rec. 13 July 1998, Concert Hall of the Nimbus Foundation, Wyastone, Monmouth, Wales. DDD
NIMBUS NI5656 [70:19]

Experience Classicsonline


 
Probably your first impression of the intimate music on this generous CD from the enterprising Nimbus label is of the peace and tranquillity. These are emotions and responses well conveyed through the meticulous and inspired zither (or qin) playing of Lin Youren.
 
The qin (pronounced, roughly, as 'chin') is a venerable, 2000-year old, Chinese, seven-stringed (ideally silken) long, low box whose tuning is pentatonic; the qin has a complex and highly-specific system of tablature.
 
Like the pipa (lute) and Kanqu opera, the qin is associated with a tiny literate 'élite', an ancient imperial 'scholar culture'. Unlike them, the qin is essentially a solo instrument; occasionally it's heard with the xiao (flute). Indeed, the sobriety and refined nature of the qin and qin players sits well in the context of the four attributes considered essential to the self-cultivation of a(n imperial) gentleman: chess, calligraphy, painting … and qin.
 
The dynamic range of the instrument is wider than might at first seem from the music on this CD: it's capable of excitement and speed (though not in the same way we know from pipa playing). Here, though, it's used mainly in a reflective way celebrating natural phenomena, simple pleasures and emotions; and laments. Modern expert Lin Youren confines himself to the gentle and the transparently slow, though not all sombre, styles here.
 
Most of what he plays on this CD is repertory handed down from older, former players. This is in contrast with another body of qin music, recreations from older scores much in the way Western academics (and performers) have elaborated an 'early' music tradition. Lin Youren (born in1938) studied with the older exponents in the 1950s and has retained the intimate and meditative approach while other players have gone in for greater communication with the audience, gestures and a 'modernised' attitude.
 
That much is clear from the way the pieces gradually seem to evolve out of nowhere - as if emerging from the mists of our vision of Chinese rural life. Not that they're too relaxed or, worse, too undisciplined to make any impact. Impact comes at times from understatement. And at times from the contrasting relaxation of understatement.
 
There are moments of great 'drive'…the middle section of the longest piece on this CD, Flowing waters, [tr.10], for example. But the pace is otherwise uniformly unhurried from first note to last. In other words, if you're familiar with the energy of pipa recitals, the apparent reticence and contemplative nature of the playing may well surprise you.
 
Much of this follows from Lin Youren's own personality and temperament. On the one hand, he's an iconoclast and subverter of order; on the other an introvert who is quietly and unobtrusively, unselfconsciously at one with his instrument and all its mystical power. His music does not suggest either quest or romanticism. Rather, it emphasises the continuation of a tradition whose very survival and retransmission are as innately significant as is the act of faith to achieve them.
 
The ten items on the CD are all instrumental, except Quifeng ci (Lyric on the autumn wind) [tr.7] in which Lin Youren sings. Not the most melodious voice. But indicative of his rounded attachment to music-making. And important in aiding our understanding of his priorities. As is the fact that the next piece was apparently inspired by the world of football.
 
Even without knowing the necessary skills that contribute to expertise in qin playing, it's obvious that Lin Youren possesses them. He is never motivated to make an effect, to rush, or to over-expose such skills. His playing - by stealthily shunning extremes - affirms the qualities of the instrument and the import of the music. It's hard to portray silence and stillness in music, for example. But he does it, through thoughtful tempi and considered phrasing. This means that the music can be listened to repeatedly without tiring or impatience.
 
As is usually the case with Nimbus, the CD comes with a booklet containing copious background. Here - on the qin and its cultural context; on Lin Youren; and on the pieces he played when he visited the contained but nicely responsive acoustic of the Wyastone Hall in 1998.
 
Mark Sealey
 

 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.