For his first non-Chopin recording, YUNDI turns to repertoire from his native China on The
Red Piano. Anchored by The Yellow River Concerto, the release also features traditional
Chinese songs which have been arranged to reflect the lush Romantic tradition in which
Yundi excels.
After his triumphs in the works of Western composers such as Chopin, Yundi turns to
music of iconic status in his native China. Lavishly deploying folk melodies, and evoking
epic vistas, the Yellow River Piano Concerto – a flower of Chairman Mao’s Cultural
Revolution – has its source in a patriotic cantata, composed in 1939 by Paris-trained Xian
Xinghai. Complementing the concerto are evocative arrangements of favourite songs that
show Yundi at his most personal and beguiling.
