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Top 10 Chinese Classical Music – Part II

Feb 5, 2009

Top 10 Chinese Classical Music – part I” continues

6. Flute & Drum Music at Dusk (夕阳萧鼓)

One of my favorites. It is one of the most popular Pipa pieces. In 1925,Shanghai Datong Music Society composed the famous “Blossoms on a Spring Moonlit Night ( 春江花月夜 )” based on this ancient Pipa solo.

7. Dialogue between Fisherman and Lumberjack ( 渔樵问答 )

This is an ancient Guqin piece. It shows the casual life style of lumberjack and fisherman, who enjoyed themselves between the mountains and rivers without worrying about anything in the populated cities. This kind of life style is what the ancient Chinese hermits like to live: to enjoy nature and life, to forget about money, fame or other distracting troubles.

8. Autumn Moon over the Han Palace ( 汉宫秋月 )

In Chinese classical music, it’s very common to see different music share one name or one music has different versions and names. This one has Erhu, Guzheng, Flute, Pipa, etc, various versions.  The video here is Erhu (Chinese Violin) version.

It describes the lonely and sorrowful life of a palace maid.

9. White Snow in Sunny Spring ( 阳春白雪 )

<Sunny Spring> and <White Snow> were the names of two complicated songs in the state of Chu during the “Spring and Autumn” and “Warring States” period of China. They have a history of 2500 years. The music was composed by some people in the same period.

In Chinese, <Sunny Spring and White Snow> also means “hard to understand, not so popular, highbrow” kind of art.

10. Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute ( 胡笳十八拍 )

It was composed for a narrative poetry (same name) in Han Dynasty. The first ten songs tell that the author missed his motherland when he was in other country. The rest mainly focus on his sarrow missing his young kids.

From this music and poetry, the author showed us his suffering from the war and his love for his motherland and his family.

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The other half is here: “Top 10 Chinese Classical Music – part I

Hope you enjoy these ancient Chinese music. Personally, I like the No.4 and No. 6.  How about you?

[Related Product on Amazon.com]
1. The Hugo Masters: An Anthology of Chinese Classical Music
2. Eleven Centuries of Traditional Music of China
3. The Legend of Guqin

[Chinese Keyword]
十大古曲



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