Category Archives: Review / 评论

Fan Jingma’s Words for the Chinese Lieder CD 前言

As an opera singer born in China, I have enjoyed a 15-year career singing abroad. During this long period, I have experienced the highs and lows of traveling, singing, and simply surviving. Much of the time I was on my own and was sometimes very lonely. Often I was overcome by an acute nostalgia for the beautiful Chinese melodies that I remember from my childhood. I thought many times how much I would love to present them to the West. As a full time singer performing in Western operas in Europe and North America, I had little opportunity to work on sharing my native music with the world. But now that, between concerts, I am often back in China, I have had the time to properly prepare this great music, to sift through songs and make good selections.   Continue reading →

Review – Chinese Lieder by Raymond Zhou 

(China Daily)

Updated: 2008-06-24 07:56          By  Raymond Zhou     

Fan Jingma’s latest album sets a milestone in the tenor’s career. After 15 years on the international opera stage, he has come back full-circle to his roots. But that’s just the surface, the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. What sets apart this collection of 16 Chinese songs is his treatment, rather than his choice of repertory, which is eclectic and does not break any boundary.   Continue reading →

Review – Chinese Lieder by Dominy Clements

CHINESE LIEDER
Jingma Fan, tenor
Reinild Mees, piano

Review by Dominy Clements – MusicWeb International – July 2008

My claim to an affinity with Chinese culture derives almost entirely from a period in which I worked as a freelance text editor – in English – for the Chinese embassy in The Hague. Part of the rewards for checking tourist brochures, speeches and articles on subjects such as the marvellous Hubei ‘Chime Bells’, a replica set of which recently toured in Europe, were gifts of numerous CDs of Chinese music in a variety of arrangements.     Continue reading →

Review – Chinese Lieder by R. Moore

Review  – American Record Guide – November/December 2008        by R. Moore

If you’re looking for something off the beaten path, here is a novelty. And it’s more than just a novelty; it’s an effort to bridge the musical expressions of east and west. The title “Chinese Lieder” refers to some of the most beloved Chinese poetry of the Tang and Song dynasties (618-1279 AD) and some of the most popular Chinese folk tunes arranged in styles familiar to western ears. We are not told who arranged these songs or when, but they display a curious range of styles, one sounding like a Neapolitan song, another vaguely like Puccini, and still others sounding like Chabrier, Stephen Foster, and even Gershwin with shades of Asian tonality. By western musical standards these sweet and gentle songs may sound simplistic, but they are pleasant and occasionally rather inventive.     Continue reading →

Review – Chinese Lieder By Ira Siff (Opera News)

Review by Ira Siff – Opera News – November 2008

A few summers ago, when I was taking a boat tour on the Yangtze River to see the Three Gorges before they were mostly drowned by the huge ongoing dam project, I was awakened every morning at 6:30 by instrumental versions of traditional Chinese songs being piped into the cabins. My traveling companion, a friend from Beijing who is not an opera singer, would supply the missing voice and text in a sweet, unaffected voice, making the seductive melodies almost lovely enough to turn the ungodly hour bearable, as would the ravishing views of the amazing gorges. With that in mind, I was looking forward to this CD of Chinese songs assembled and sung by tenor Jingma Fan, a participant in some very prestigious singing contests — he was a finalist in both the 1987 Cardiff Singer of the World and the 1995 Pavarotti Competition — and now veteran of a fifteen-year opera career.     Continue reading →

CD Review – 评论：我们何时再歌唱？- 赵越胜

—为范竞马《中国艺术歌曲集》出版而作

《读书》2008第9期                          作者：赵越胜

去年初回大陆时，老朋友们聚会，竞马悄悄地来了。自二〇〇三年在巴黎分手，一晃四年，知道他一直在国内耕耘着歌唱的田地，辛劳而执著。这次相见本有很多话题想谈，但我去国十七年，偶一回家，朋友云集，竟没有充裕的时间和他细谈。只在酒痕灯影中听他说起眼下正考虑出一盘中国艺术歌曲集。我心极喜，想这当然是很好的着力点。眼见大轰大鸣之下，歌唱艺术的细流濒临枯竭，我们将面对没有歌唱只有喧嚣的世界。深夜思之，痛彻肺腑。 Continue reading →