Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream - New Chinese Pipa Music by Gao Hong

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Review from Gapplegate Guitar and Bass Blog by Grego Edwards:

The pipa stringed instrument has been a fixture of traditional Chinese music for many centuries. More like a guitar (it has a neck, for example) in construction than a koto, in the right hands it has a delicate resonance that distinguishes it from any other. Gao Hong certainly has the right hands.

Gao also has a conceptual mind that dares to compose and arrange music that brings the traditional Chinese instrument into a musical world it has not inhabited before. Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream (Innova 240) is quite an achievement. Gao plays with a real virtuoso's mastery. She has for this album created six quite varied musical contexts. She can be found playing a fascinating Chinese-Indian hybrid, a contemporary-improvisation-meets-Chinese-meets-Japanese-Taiko-drumming piece, in a quasi-Western-classical mode, and in a solo context where the pipa tradition is invoked with sensitivity and musical bravura.

I've certainly never heard anything like this one before. What's most impressive is not so much that she attempts these unusual and unprecedented stylistic syzygys. It's that the resulting music wholly succeeds; so much so that it even sounds like a natural and inevitable thing that's been happening for centuries, which of course it has not.

I can't say enough nice things about this one. If you want to branch off onto a quite different musical path, listen to this one. It's rather incredible really.

More review around the World:

Review from The Voice Magazine Canada:

“Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream” is Hong’s first album featuring her own compositions. This virtuoso composed nearly every piece on the album, and her music seethes with passion and virility even as it typifies artistic delicacy and restraint.

The instrumentation is superb. Far from becoming a reckless mishmash of varied ethnicities, the instruments complement, balance, and enhance one other. The first composition, “Butterfly,” is an ecstatic interplay of cello, voice, veena, tabla, and pipa. The title track is a blissfully enchanting duet between the pipa and the sitar (played by Joseph Schad).

“Courage” and “Celebration” are both Hong’s tributes to her daughter Alida, the survivor of a long and painful struggle with leukemia. But these are far from the sentimental rhapsodies one might expect in response to this subject. Manic voices and driving, aggressive percussion signify a strength and determination that’s jarringly beautiful.

Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream manifests six of The Mindful Bard’s criteria for music well worth a listen: 1) it is authentic, original, and delightful; 2) it makes me want to be a better artist; 3) it gives me tools which help me be a better artist; 4) it displays an engagement with and compassionate response to suffering; 5) it inspires an awareness of the sanctity of creation; and 6) it provides respite from a sick and cruel world, a respite enabling me to renew myself for a return to mindful artistic endeavour.

Review from Crossovers Belgium:

“Gao Hong shows with these projects a renewal of Chinese music tradition, ready for the world to embrace. I have the impression a new territory has been shown as a new way by Gao Hong. I hope it leads to a path where more Chinese musicians are able to show what is possible to introduce themselves more easily into the world.”

Review from China:

“Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream” is representative of her newest accomplishments. She herself composed most of the pieces in the album, depicting not only the extreme hardships and bitters, but also memories about the happiness and peace of life. She also expresses her pursuit of dreams, in which mysterious colorful clouds dye the whole sky. It is very fortunate that Gao Hong has performed and fully appreciated the essence of this precious piece of folk music, while adding her own distinct touch.”

Review from Songlines World Music Magazine London, U.K.

That the pipa player Gao Hong has long lived in the US is evident in this collection, which reveals a depth of multiculturalism and synthesis of elements from India and Japan rarely found in her native China. All of the instruments recorded here are nicely up-front and resonant. The players themselves combine solid traditional technique with 21-century musical vision.

The title-track is a fine sonic painting of nature, combining Indian and Chinese plucked strings to great effect. The music is mesmerizing without resorting to clichés.

The standout track here is “Celebration” a work commissioned by the Jerome Foundation. In addition to their virtuosic display of drumming and strumming techniques, the musicians join in vocally, with a veritable vocabulary of phonemes communicating unbridled joyfulness.

Review from U.S.A.
“One of the true virtuosos of the World Music scene… Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream is filled with meditative serene soundscapes and serves as an audio visit to the Far East.”
MWE3 Record Label Spotlight
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

“On Quiet Forest, Flowing Stream, Gao Hong offers a bold vision of how the pipa (a Chinese four stringed lute-like instrument) can be used in novel cross-cultural musical fusions… the blending of the pipa and veena creates a lush and exotic pan-Asian confection.”
Driftwood Music Magazine

“The project is innovative and bold, yet sensitive and delicate. It combines Gao Hong’s virtuosic pipa performance with her seasoned musical creativity. It also builds inter-cultural links that explore musical extremes with a sense of belonging for everyone.”
Victor Fung, Professor of University of South Florida and Director of Center for Music Education Research

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