https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdUev3ZLW00&list=RDmdUev3ZLW00&start_radio=1

I chose a piece of Chinese Orchestral Music called 《花儿》. It was composed by Wang Danhong and performed by the China National Traditional Orchestra in this recording. This orchestra was founded in 1960, and is the world’s largest performance ensemble for traditional music from China. Throughout the piece, there was a lot of build up. The strings would play in a soft, “fairytale” like way, and then would slowly speed up and get louder as percussion would come in. To conclude the piece, there was a big build up and a loud dramatic ending. The string instruments from this culture look and are played a lot different than the ones of Western tradition. Most are played sitting in your lap, compared to the violin or viola which are played on your shoulder, or cello which is played standing. I chose this piece because I used to play the violin. I love orchestral music and performances, so it was neat to see the differences between a Western and Chinese orchestra.