Yolanda Kondonassis, harp. San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Jahja Ling, conductor.
Label
Telarc
Format
cutout CD
Runtime/Release Date
67'56/2009
Label Number
80719
Daedalus Item Code
18345
This item is not available.
Description
Bright Sheng's concerto-like piece for harp and orchestra is the centerpiece of this disc devoted to the music of this Shanghai-born composer (and MacArthur grant recipient). Along with Shanghai Overture and Tibetan Love Song and Swing, harpist and orchestra perform the short ballet The Nightingale and the Rose, inspired by an Oscar Wilde story in which a nightingale befriends a student who loves his professor's daughter. "I felt that Sheng's use of color, rhythm, and Asian-inspired sonorities would translate well on the harp," says Kondonassis. "We share a fondness for powerful music and enjoyed unearthing new sounds and textures on an instrument that so often gets stereotyped." The Dallas Morning News praised the soloist as "a brilliant and expressive player" and described Sheng's work as encompassing everything from "wide-screen luxury" to "Asian-flavored boogie-woogie."
"Kondonassis was called upon to use her extraordinary technique and powerful tone. But not just any harpist would pull this off so elegantly. Sheng's three-movement work is inspired by the idea that, if your native culture is still the inspiration for your work, you are never far away from home."—Grand Rapids Press
