National Gegraphic

Born in Shanghai in 1955, Xiaogang Ye is regarded as one of China’s leading contemporary composers. He has written music in a variety of genres, including symphonic and chamber works as well as scores for the stage. Ye has also composed music for films and the two works recorded here are both examples of this. Sichuan Image consists of 29 brief and atmospheric pieces composed to accompany a filmed travelogue of the scenic province in Western China. In preparation for the work, the composer visited mountains, river, villages and ancient historical sites in Sichuan. Lending further colour to the large symphony orchestra, four Chinese musicians perform on traditional instruments.

National Health (1978) [Reissue 2009]. Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of a new re-mastered edition of the classic 1978 debut album by National Health. Evolving from Canterbury stylists Hatfield & the North, National Health featured the talents of Dave Stewart on keyboards, Pip Pyle on drums and Phil Miller on guitar along with guests such as Jimmy Hastings. At various times the group also included such luminaries as Bill Bruford, Mont Campbell and Alan Gowen. Released by Affinity Records in February 1978, the album is a classic of the ‘Canterbury’ style and is sure to be a much sought after release by all aficionados of the genre…

For their latest album, Neeme Järvi and his Estonian National Symphony Orchestra present a delightful programme of lesser-known stage music from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Overtures by Thomas, Auber and Boieldieu were all composed for works staged at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and are wonderful examples of the period.

That globetrotting composer Camille Saint-Saëns wrote La Princesse jaune in 1872, exemplifying the current craze for all things Japanese. Kornélis, played by the tenor Mathias Vidal, dreams only of the Land of the Rising Sun. Under the influence of a hallucinogenic potion, he becomes infatuated with Ming, a fantasy princess. His cousin Léna – the soprano Judith van Wanroij – despairs of this passion and does not dare to confess her own feelings to Kornélis, who eventually comes to his senses. The running time of this opera enables us to offer a coupling in the shape of a previously unrecorded version of Saint-Saëns’s six Mélodies persanes, thus extending the guiding thread of a yearning for exotic horizons in another direction. Leo Hussain conducts the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in both works.