Tzadik's Yuan is the debut CD from Chinese composer, improviser, and multitalented instrumentalist and vocalist Wu Fei, and it's quite simply a joy to behold. Wu has worked with Fred Frith, Elliott Sharp, John Zorn, and others as an improviser and collaborator; however, in her own music Wu's work evinces respect for tradition, an interest in what instruments can do, a strong sense of architecture, and good old fashioned showmanship. The traditional aspect is felt most strongly in the ensemble piece Lou Lan and the prepared guzheng solo Yuan? Yuan! Yuan... combines this traditional sense with novel treatments of the guzheng, a Chinese zither and ancestor of the Japanese koto. Wu's treatments of the guzheng make it sound almost like a gamelan playable by one person. Enthusiasts of percussion music simply MUST know this album, as the solo percussion piece Red Carriage -- expertly played by Shayna Dunkelman -- is of demonstration quality, with the sound moving around in the channels like 1961 stereo; thanks Tzadik! She Huo is a beautiful percussion ensemble piece -- five players -- performed by the Percussion Claviers de Lyon, and it has a kind of ceremonial feeling about it that is reminiscent of Harry Partch or Teiji Ito, but it is unquestionably Chinese and contains some wonderfully harmonious writing for the mallet instruments. Before I Wake is brief piano suite played by Stephen Drury, ranging from simple gestures to driving city music, and seems to hit some of the high points of Wu's stylistic ideas in microcosm. Tzadik's Yuan, featuring Wu Fei, is a highly entertaining and appealing disc that fans of contemporary music will not want to miss.
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