SIGHTS AND SOUNDS OF CHINA

CCTV  International

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Helen Feng ：I’m Helen Feng, and welcome to Center Stage, a show that every weekend brings the rich performance culture of China, both past and present.  And in a few of our recent episodes, we’ve traveled all over China to bring you the rich diversity of its folksongs. 

In today’s episode, we take a look at the work of one composure , Bao Yuankai  who took 24 of the most memoriable of those folk melodies and created an orchestral masterpiece called the Sights and Sounds of China.  So, sit back and enjoy this episode of Centerstage as we bring the symphony into your homes. 

In 1991, composer Bao Yuan Kai premeired his 24 Pieces by Themes on Chinese Folktunes For Symphony Orchestra. . .which plainly put, is 24 Han Ethnicity folk melodies strung together in a Medley arranged for western traditional orchestra.  24 Pieces was actually a part of his greater symphonic work called the Sights and Sounds of China.  This was one of the first efforts in Bao Yuan Kai’s personal exploration of combining the distinct nature of Chinese traditional music with Western orchestra and arrangement techniques.  Later, his works would expand into a symphonic series called Zhongguo Feng or the Rhapsody of China that would go further to explore traditional Opera, Chinese Nursery Rhymes, the music of china’s minorities, Ancient music, etc. etc. all rearranged for a western symphony.  We start today’s pr ram with two of the 24 pieces including Happy Sunrise and The Guessing Song.

Happy Sunrise  （太阳出来喜洋洋）

Arranged by Bao Yuankai

Conducted by Chen Zuohuang

Performed by China National Symphony Orchestra

Bao Yuankai   Composer：So I wondered, at a time of rapid cultural transition, how could I preserve China's folk songs while making them appeal to modern tastes? I thought of a symphony orchestra.

Starting in 1991, I spent almost a year collecting folk songs of the Han nationality. They are from Hebei, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Shanxi. I arranged them for a symphony orchestra to perform in concert, in such a way that the form of Chinese folk songs could be kept alive.

Guessing Song  （猜调）

Arranged by Bao Yuankai

Conducted by Chen Zuohuang

Performed by China National Symphony Orchestra

Helen Feng ：Welcome back to Center Stage, and to more on the symphonic works of reknowned composer Bao Yuan Kai. His work 24 Pieces by Themes on Chinese Folktunes, was part of his greater symphonic series, Rhapsody of China.  For this series Bao Yuan Kai looked at the works of great western composers such as Bartok, taking influence from Bartok’s use of the sounds from the countryside of Hungary, Romania, and North africa in writing his early 20^th Century compositions.  In using Chinese folktunes and traditional sounds, Bao Yuan Kai wanted to (quote unquote) let Chinese people know more about the forms of western music by the melodies that they were familiar with; meanwhile showing foreigners the artistic charm of Chinese music by a form that their familiar with.  So,  back to this perfect amalgam of east and west with the famous song from Shaan (3) xi Province about a girl by the name of Lan Hua Hua.

Hua Hua （兰花花）(Part 1)

Arranged by Bao Yuankai

Conducted by Chen Zuohuang

Performed by China National Symphony Orchestra

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Helen Feng： That was one piece from the 24 Pieces by Themes of Chinese Folktunes, Lan Hua Hua.  This work encompasses the folk music of Heibei, Yuannan, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Jiangsu, many of these pieces should already be familiar to you our audience as they have appeared in past episodes of Center stage on our many episodes about folk songs. Many of these folksongs depict nature or life, but some, like Lan Hua Hua are stories.  This famous piece is about a beautiful girl who struggles against an arranged marriage so she can be with her love, a struggle which eventually costs her life.  Their love is depicted by the oboe and cello, with brass and strings symbolizing her struggle and wrath. Now we return to the stage as we continue with the 2^nd half of the piece Lan Hua Hua. 

Lan Hua Hua （兰花花）(Part 2)

Arranged by Bao Yuankai

Conducted by Chen Zuohuang

Performed by China National Symphony Orchestra

Bao Yuankai   Composer：It’s an idea I’ve had since 1961, to hold a symphony concert of folk songs of the Han nationality. By the time this idea became the reality, it was 1991, 30 years later.

Helen Feng：Welcome back to our program and now onto more from the Sights and Sounds of China. We return to more Shaanxi Folk Song with a piece called Going to the West Gate.  This is a song about the migration of the poor people of China’s Highlands to better living, but because of this migration, two lovers are separated.  Here is their sad lament called Going to the West Gate.

Going to the West Gate（走西口）

Arranged by Bao Yuankai

Conducted by Chen Zuohuang

Performed by China National Symphony Orchestra

Helen Feng ：That was going to the west gate, and we follow it with a happier tune called Going to Watch Yangge.  Yange is a type of dance popular in the villages of Northern China danced around the time of festivities.  In this song, villagers go to see the Yangge dance and on the way are greeted by many interesting things. Let’s take a listen.

Going to Watch Yangge（看秧歌）

Arranged by Bao Yuankai

Conducted by Chen Zuohuang

Performed by China National Symphony Orchestra

Bao Yuankai   Composer：To date, Sights and Sounds of China has been performed in 37 countries and regions. This is beyond my imagination. But still, there are reasons for it. Modern China is developing rapidly, both economically and culturally. There’s now a great demand for international cultural communication. Not only China needs western culture, the West also needs Chinese culture very much.

Helen Feng

Much of China’s music was lost and Chinese traditional culture virtually unseen in the west.  But in 1980’s, that began to change, and composer Bao Yuan Kai hopes that China’s arts community is waking up now to a new renaissance.  One which digs deep into it’s past traditions while searching for invention. We close today’s show with a musical game that’s played all over China in hundreds of different forms.  Here is the Heibei version of Can You Guess what Flower it is.

Flower Guessing Song (对花)

Arranged by Bao Yuankai

Conducted by Yu Long

Performed by China Philharmonic Orchestra

Bao Yuankai   Composer ：Flower Guessing Song is about the names of different flowers. It’s a duet, with one singer asking a flower’s name, and the other responding immediately. I use a grand orchestra to bring out the liveliness of the scene. I use the Hebei folk instrument, the laozi, and western instruments like castanets to imitate the sounds.

Helen Feng：That was the last piece in our a brief look at the 24 Pieces by Themes on Chinese Folk Tunes from the Symphonic work, the Sights and Sounds of China by composure Bao Yuan Kai..