Composed 1973-6; 8 minutes 

Here we have the second most popular work by Chinese composer Chen Gang. The most popular? The Butterfly Lovers concerto, likely the best-known fusion of Chinese and Western music, bringing together elements from Yue opera, the pentatonic scale and Western symphonic music. Created jointly by Chen and He Zhanhao in 1959 when both were students at the Shanghai Conservatory, the piece builds upon Chen’s training by his father, a well-known composer of popular songs, and the then-open policies at the Shanghai Conservatory. The 89-year-old Chen looks back now to the “open, tolerant and creative” character of Shanghai culture at the time. 

The Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, however, brought darker times and ten years when Chen was working in an army art troupe and even relying on skills as a chiropractic practitioner. “I believe that a composer is expected to create sunshine in the days of darkness, and paint golden colors in the days of grey,” he told the Shanghai Daily a few years ago. Chen wrote nine solo violin pieces during the latter part of this oppressive period in his Red Violin series, which gained wide currency. Titles like Loving-kindness praise Chairman Mao, while others describe vivid natural scenery and, in the case of The Red Sun Shines on the Steel-Smelting Furnace, hardworking citizens. Sunshine over Tashkurgan comes from this collection and evokes the character of the Tashkurgan people in the far west of China, a mountainous region with a long history as a major stop on the Silk Road, close to the Tajikistan border. Chen does this with a virtuoso display of violin pyrotechnics.

Chinese composer Chen Gang

— All program notes copyright © 2023 Keith Horner.  Comments welcomed: khnotes@sympatico.ca