Regrettably this is only the second CD to date devoted entirely
to the music of Belgian-Chinese composer Hao-Fu Zhang, and the
first since the Belgian label Cyprès 2005 disc of two of Zhang's
String Quartets and a Clarinet Quintet (CYP 4617).
In his short, hagiographical essay on Zhang's works in the CD
booklet - rather pretentiously entitled "Towards a Humanity
of Light" - Edwin Clapuyt writes, in hackneyed terms, that
Zhang's music combines "modern Western writing techniques
and oriental spirituality." Certainly Zhang has, quite
naturally, written a fair amount of music for ethnic instruments
- most recently his ChangAn Symphony for "Chinese
orchestra", premiered in 2008, and a concerto for suona
(Chinese shawm) and orchestra in 2009. On this new disc, the
flute in Théâtre pour Deux certainly lends the work
a Far Eastern flavour, but the musical, emotional and metaphysical
elements of Zhang's works generally have more of a Western feel
to them, notwithstanding the various Chinese influences and
elements they encode and sometimes display.
Théâtre pour Deux has appeared before on CD, again
on Cyprès - see review here.
The title apparently refers to a Chinese theatrical convention
of some kind. Clapuyt describes the work rather obscurely as
"an intimist performance from which all lyricism and refinement
is suppressed" which, though intended in a complimentary
way, is rather overstated: the relative simplicity of the generally
slow-moving music produces an atmospheric delicacy of surprising
beauty. In the first libero movement the flute has a
dominant, often virtuosic role, with the piano relegated to
long periods of silence - not the repetition of a single chord
misleadingly claimed in the notes. Roles are reversed in the
second movement, marked moderato e misterioso. Théâtre
pour Deux II is more or less the same work, expertly adapted
for violin in 2002 for the Belgian soloist Wibert Aerts, and
well suited to it too - though the original 'flutiness' of tone
colour is often maintained.
Yin-Yang, for two pianos, is the most self-evidently
modernistic and atonal work in the programme. The yin and yang
in question are staccato and legato, the latter most obviously
demonstrated by Zhang's employment of "multiple appoggiaturas",
which are a recurring feature of this work, giving rise to some
amazing waves of sound.
Last but not least come the two works for cello and piano. Crépuscule
is a fairly early piece, named after and inspired by a poem
by Li Shang-Yin. Dusk is evidently a lively, noisy time of day
in Zhang's neighbourhood! In two equal parts, the energy of
the first half is balanced by a more reflective, Chinese-influenced
second, and the work ends under the mysterious shroud of darkness.
Le Chant du Ciel is, on the other hand, one of Zhang's
more recent works, and a substantial one at that. It was dedicated
to pianist Muhiddin Dürrüoglu-Demiriz and cellist Marie Hallynck,
using notes corresponding to the usable letters of their names,
with each soloist playing his or her motif. The title, however,
comes from a Chinese mountain song, which provides contrasting
exotic material. This is perhaps the most immediately appealing
work on the disc, with a particularly lyrical cello part that
moves between nostalgic Far Eastern melodies and vigorous European
rhythms.
The five soloists are not by any stretch of the imagination
household names, and the CD booklet hardly helps in that direction
with its total absence of any biographical notes; but their
performances of Zhang's music are impressively virtuosic and
convincing, particularly those of Turkish-born Muhiddin Dürrüoglu-Demiriz
(b.1969), himself a composer, and Belgian cellist Marie Hallynck,
who has now built up a reasonable discography on Cyprès and
Fuga Libera in particular.
Sound quality is excellent throughout. As just mentioned, the
booklet is a little short on detail - apart from the missing
biographies, Zhang's birth year is not given, and the individual
movements of the two versions of Théâtre pour Deux are
not named. This last point leads to a further minor irritation:
the track-listing gives only the five works, so how the seven
tracks on the CD match up is left for listeners to work out
for themselves, not helped by the absence of timings.
Zhang is enigmatically described on the Megadisc website as
"composer of Chinese origin who became Belgian", but
there is nothing arcane about his music: there is much here
to appeal to more general audiences, and little to outrage them,
although a familiarity with contemporary idiom would certainly
smooth the way. Repeated hearings will only improve the experience
and repay the listener with original, ambicultural ideas attractively
presented.
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
Muhiddin Dürrüoglu-Demiriz (piano) 
