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Picturesque Music - A Yuan Dynasty Painting Reinvented

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Soprano Zheng Peiqin of the Zhejiang Song and Dance Theatre.
Alexis Alrich

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If a movie needs a soundtrack, does a live concert need visuals? Not really. Living, sweating and breathing players are plenty to keep us engaged. It's risky to add a possibly distracting element, but this concert with the combined Chinese orchestras of Zhejiang and Hong Kong made it work.

The Yuan dynasty painting, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains by Hong Gongwan, was projected on a large screen behind the players and simple animations were added: drifting boats, moving clouds and water, flying birds.

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The 120-strong combined orchestras made a ferocious sound with rolling drums, blazing suonas, frenzied strings and reverberating gongs.

Chinese music is famous for its tone-painting. An example is Horse Race for erhu solo. I prefer using my imagination, but it was enjoyable to have a literal painting juxtaposed with music in the Caprice on Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains by Liu Yuan.

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