Search - Miao Xiaoyun :: Art of the Chinese Flute (Eng)

Lute Lute Lute!

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 01/01/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The first thing I want to mention here is that this is the same cd as Miao's other cd carried by this site. Her disc listed here as "Art of the Chinese" is a previous issue of the disc I am reviewing right here. I e-mailed ARC Music about this some time ago and was told that this cd is a reissue of that cd but with different cover art. So, if you own this one, there is no need to buy that one used, or to be bummed that it is out-of-print. It's this cd.



And yes, this disc I am reviewing is incorrectly titled here. It is "Art of the Chinese Lute"... NOT "flute". There isn't one flute on this recording.



I've been torn as to how many stars to give this. After my initial listens I was thinking 3, but I am going with 4 after subsequent listens. I wasn't going to give this 3 stars meaning it is bad... FAR from it (!), it's just that within the context of other Chinese discs I have reviewed recently, this one is a smidge behind those, but 3 is just way too low for music of this caliber. 3.9? A great disc, no matter what the number.



Miao is a flat-out master of all the lutes presented here... the bass ruan, tenor ruan, and pipa. Her tone(s), style, and level of picking technique is incredible. To a certain degree, comparing/contrasting music at this level of accomplishment is just splitting hairs, but if forced, I might say she is an even more skilled player than Min Xiao-Fen... but the great Min cd I recently reviewed (Spring, River, Flower, Moon, Night) has a couple more songs/melodies I prefer over some of those on this disc. It's pretty much 6 of one, half a dozen of the other, as both discs are great, just different. It's also a tough call because I have had that Min disc for years and know it like an old friend, while I only bought this Miao Xiaoyun disc in the second half of 2004.



Accompanying Miao on a couple tracks here is her husband (I think), Professor Xu Pingxin, an absolute genius/master/GOD of the yangqin, the hammered dulcimer of China. He truly is just accompanying her here, though. He adds some lovely work to the tracks here that he appears on (Track #3 for instance, one of my favorites of the whole disc), but for your own good, do not think this is the pinnacle of his ability. You really need to pick up his Art of the Chinese Dulcimer disc. He is astounding on that! That disc is a masterpiece and you owe it to yourself to get it.



Art of the Chinese Lute is one of two extremely good new Chinese discs released by ARC in 2004, but for some reason the other one isn't available here (or at least it isn't as of my writing this. Free free to search for it as you read this review). I was going to review it right now but it isn't showing up anywhere when I search for it. I have to mention it just so you know it is out there and available at the ARC Music site... (www.arcmusic.co.uk), it's The Art of the Chinese Harp: Guzheng, by Xiao Ying. Definitely another one not to be missed, if you can help it.

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