Search - Chou Wen-Chung, Claire Heldrich, Donald Palma :: Echoes From the Gorge: Music by Chou Wen-Chung

Brilliant music crossing Oriental and Western traditions

Bach Forever | Northern California | 06/05/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was a student of Chou Wen-Chung's in my college days (Music History) in the early 1960's. He was a wonderful educator and was known as a student of Edgard Varese, the "father of electronic music" within the Classical tradition. Now, so many years later, I have rediscovered briliance in this collection of works spanning the Eastern and Western traditions. One might think of this as Chinese music, but on listening carefully, you realize the influences are much more a reflection of East and West. The first piece, for percussion, in the title suite, "Echoes from the Gorge" is "Raindrops on Bamboo Leaves." And modern, Oriental, and magnificent this is. One can sit back with eyes closed and hear the reaindrops. It has an uncanny sense of nature and beauty. For anyone with a sense of adventure and an appreciation of classical music, this recording is a must. For someone unfamiliar with Chou, it is a revelation. Professor Chou is now Professor Emeritus of Musical Composition at Columbia. He is a founder of the US-China Arts Exchange (Pavarotti, Isaac Stern and other performing in China). His sense of the Oriental and Western musical traditions is unique and his music exceptional. Though I generally am narrow in my devotion to the Baroque, I do get out and about the Western tradition from Early Music and the Renaissance to the early Moderns, but this is a very special experience one must enjoy."