Zhao Bichen

The Viennese-born Carl Czerny (1791–1857) is best remembered for his countless pedagogical studies, hundreds and hundreds of them. But Czerny’s astonishing fecundity – his opus numbers go up to 861, but there is much more music than that – has served to obscure the fact that he was an important composer in his own right, his works forming a link between Beethoven (his teacher) and Liszt (his student), between the Classical and Romantic eras. The pieces recorded here, all for the first time, reflect the brilliance of his own playing and were intended to impress the salons of Biedermeyer Vienna.

Zhao Jiping can be rightly considered as China's John Williams. Having made his reputation scoring some of the most popular arthouse films from China's Fifth Generation Filmmakers (including "To Live", "Ju Dou", "Farewell My Concubine", and "Raise The Red Lantern", Zhao achieved international recognition following the release of the CD "Electric Shadows" (2000). The present recording is a suite compiled from the incidental music Zhao composed for the popular historic drama "Qiao's Grand Courtyard." Stylistically, think Morricone at his sweetest, with a Chinese flavor. The suite has become quite popular in China and is frequently programmed on concerts.