Fu is still very Chinese in its sound because here its composer attempted to replicate "some of the most basic aesthetic feelings typical of Chinese poetry and calligraphy, such as subtlety, free form, and masterly strokes." While he did not shy away from employing western compositional methods, the end result is still Chinese even though all of the instruments are Western string instruments employed by Modern Works, a music ensemble formed in 1997 by cellist and concert producer Madeleine Shapiro.

Angel Suite depicts Ge's interest in Christianity. He stated that this of all his works so far is the closest to Western classical music tradition and offers a contrast to his previous music. "The title comes from my interest in Christianity, although I am not a Christian myself." Pointing out that the religion was forbidden for many years in China, he continues, "In this work, I try to express my curiosity in, and observation of, various aspects of Christianity." I found this is an exceedingly lucid work, though obviously highly influenced by modern compositional styles, echoing not only Schubert, but Schönberg and Shostakovich.

Fall of Baghdad is Ge's homage to George Crumb's Vietnam-era Black Angels for Electric String Quartet. As the composer admits, Crumb's work was not written as an explicit anti-war protest, but is associated with "surrounding things (psychological and emotional)" that represented the time. He said with Baghdad he chose to "compose a string quartet that could, on the one hand, record my musical thoughts provoked by the [Iraq] war." It is not an easy work to listen to, but it holds the listeners attention, as in some movements it invokes micro-tonal inflections evoking Arabic music connected through the Silk Road to similar gestures in Chinese music. As in all of his compositions featured on this CD, Ge uses unorthodox sound distortions, such as extreme high notes on low strings. It is not music easily overlooked. The quality of the recording makes this a worthy addition to any good CD library.

Ge's teacher in Shanghai was Chen Gang, who with He Zhanhao composed the most frequently played Chinese orchestral work in our part of the world, The Butterfly Lovers, a story depicted in a number of films. Based on a feudal tale of two lovers, who are united in death to become butterflies, this work received its premiere in Shanghai in May 1959 as part of the People's Republic's 10^th anniversary. It was an instant hit with the Shanghai public despite its fusion of Western and Chinese styles and instrumentation. In the following year it received a performance by the Central Philharmonic in Russia as part of a cultural exchange between the two nations.

Yet within five years of its first public performance by the student orchestra at Shanghai's Lyceum, almost everyone associated with the Butterfly Lovers was in prison. As China convulsed under the Cultural Revolution, the music's fusion of a feudal tale and Western musical influences were seen as counterrevolutionary. Red Guards branded the Butterfly Lovers bourgeois along with Tchaikovsky, Beethoven and Debussy. The youngest of the collaborators on this work, who echoed the female part on stage in 1954 with her instrument was violinist Yu Lina. She escaped with the mildest rebuke, a public humiliation for "spreading poison to the people." The party official, who had supervised the work prior to its premiere was dragged out and publicly accused of "crimes worse than murder." Composer Chen had to serve two years in prison, then spent several years under house arrest at the Shanghai Conservatory with manual labor in the morning and self-criticism sessions in the afternoon.

But, as we can see, Chen eventually became a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory once the Cultural Revolution ran its course. The Butterfly Lovers, familiar to me as a story and as a Chinese print since early childhood, has been a favorite piece of music for a long time, and in this recording by violinist Gil Shaham with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra is revealed in all its romantic, descriptive beauty.

Also on this CD is Tchaikovsky's Concerto in D major for violin and orchestra, Op. 35, a fitting work to accompany the titled work because The Butterfly Lovers faintly echoes that composer, and is sometimes referred to as "the Tchaikovsky Concerto of the East." This is a CD that is hard to resist for anyone who loves the violin in its most romantic form.

The third CD reviewed here of Chinese music is called China - ancient traditions to Beijing punk. As the title implies, it offers a great variety of musical styles that speak of its tumultuous history and its geographic diversity. Film music from the 1930s sits comfortably next to its ancient form of opera. Both, not so long ago, were forbidden pleasures for the Chinese. Included are music by a very modern, very fresh sounding Urna, whose work has its roots in the traditional music of Inner Mongolia, Cantonese opera by Zhen Jun Mian & Li Hong—also very much a forbidden art form in very recent history—as well as a piece by a Vancouver group, Silk Road Music, an all-female band, Hang on the Box playing rock and punk, and many other artists from then and now.