New Zealand String Quartet - Asian Music for String Quartet: Tan Dun, Toru Takemitsu, Gao Ping, Chinary Ung, Zhou Long (2012)

This programme brings together aesthetic and musical elements of East and West. Zhou Long captures the essence of the Chinese plucked ch'in and Cambodian aesthetics are preserved in Chinary Ung's expressive Spiral III. Tan Dun's Eight Colors combines the exotic timbres of Peking Opera with Second Viennese School tonalities. Gao Ping's Bright Light and Cloud Shadows has been admired for its 'long-breathed brush strokes' (Washington Post). Taking its inspiration from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake Toru Takemitsu's beautifully crafted A Way a Lone evokes a shimmering sound world.