Bridge Chamber Virtuosi CD

Bridge Chamber Virtuosi

Bridge Chamber Virtuosi: Wei He, violin; Jay Liu, viola; Amos Yang, cello - Shenshen Zhang, pipa

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"Bridge Chamber Virtuosi - Classical"

"The name makes it sound like some sort of pickup band, but the Bridge Chamber Virtuosi is anything but. The group consists of a trio of local string luminaries — violinist Wei He of the San Francisco Conservatory and violist Jay Liu and cellist Amos Yang from the San Francisco Symphony — and they play with the kind of unanimity and style born of long collaboration. At least, they do that on the one piece on this appealing disc that brings all three players together, Erno Dohnányi's Serenade in C, which gets a sumptuous and vivacious reading midway through the lineup. Yet that piece is an odd stylistic outlier in a program that is otherwise devoted to music with Chinese overtones. Yang works alone to bring a wonderful degree of urgency to Bright Sheng's "Seven Tunes Heard in China," and he's joined by Liu for a mellifluous account of "Gobi Canticle," composer Lei Liang's meditation on Mongolian themes. Finally, pipa virtuoso Shenshen Zhang joins the group for "Ning," a ferocious and uncompromising new work by Chen Yi, to cap a potent effort all around."

San Francisco Chronicle, Joshua Kosman

"This is an excellent CD, and highly recommended, especially to admirers of chamber music who are looking for something a little bit off the beaten path, but not necessarily avant-garde."

Raymond Tuttle, Fanfare Magazine

"True to its name, the quartet does indeed display virtuosity in modern music in a variety of settings on its new self-titled recording."

BlogCritics, Jon Sobel

    Bright Sheng: Seven Tunes Heard in China
    1. Seasons
    2. Guessing Song
    3. Little Cabbage
    4. Drunken Fisherman
    5. Diu Diu Dong
    6. Pastoral Ballade
    7. Tibetan Dance
    8. Lei Liang: Gobi Canticle
    (world premiere recording)
    Erno Dohnanyi: Serenade in C major
    9. Marcia - allegro
    10. Romanza - adagio
    11. Scherzo - vivace
    12. Tema con variazoni
    13. Finale
    14. Chen Yi: Ning for Violin, Cello and Pipa
    (world premiere recording)
    Pipa: Shenshen Zhang