Bright Sheng - H'un (Lacerations) & Other Works (1991)

H'un: In Memoriam 1966-1976 is emphatically an angry and grieving cry of historical experience. This essay was composed in 1987, the year Sheng became an American citizen. The word H'un, pronounced like the tribe of Attila, is translated by the composer as “lacerations.” The music of the Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng (b 1955) sometimes floats like delicate fragrances on a breeze and sometimes screams and writhes in actual or remembered agony. In 1978, Sheng became one of the first to be admitted to the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, where he earned his composition degree. Moving to New York City in 1982, he continued his composition studies at Queens College of the City University of New York with George Perle and Hugo Weisgall, at Columbia University with Chou Wen-chung, Jack Beeson, and Mario Davidovsky, and with his mentor Leonard Bernstein.

Tracklist

1. H'un (Lacerations): In Memoriam 1966-1976 (21:24)
The New York Chamber Symphony
Gerard Schwarz, conductor

The Stream Flows
2. I = 54 (5:06)
3. II = 104-108 (4:40)
Lucia Lin, violin

Three Chinese Love Songs
4. Blue Flower (1:35)
5. At the Hillside Where Horses Are Running (1:33)
6. The Stream Flows (3:40)
Lisa Saffer, soprano
Paul Neubauer, viola
Bright Sheng, piano

My Song
7. I = 54 (2:50)
8. II = 72 (2:03)
9. III = 112-116 (2:14)
10. IV = 66 (“Nostalgia”) (2:40)
Peter Serkin, piano


H'un was recorded at the Manhattan Center on November 20, 1991. My Song, Three Chinese Love Songs, and The Stream Flows recorded at the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Auditorium, New York City, on September 17, 1990,April 4, and May 23, 1991 respectively.

New World 80407