The Yellow River Concerto

[alberto]

After the "Butterfly Lovers", what about "The Yellow River Concerto" (a 1939 choral cantata by one Xian Xinghai, later turned into a piano concerto by a "collective group" of composers?.
Kitsch or entertaining music in blended style? For me both.
Personally I would reflect that it is not so unsung, as I attended two actual performances by two Chinese orchestras (for them it was a visiting card to West. The second time, just a few years ago, the soloist was Yundi Li, now Yundi).
I would add a marketing curiosity. I bought the Decca LP  recording with Ilana Vered and Elgar Howarth (maybe the only one completely western recording); in the reissue I own, it was coupled to Rachmaninov Paganini Rhapsody 18th Variation, Addinsell Warsaw Concerto and Bath Cornish Rhapsody (all. arranged), these played by Rawicz and Landauer with Mantovani and his orchestra. (Decca Viva series).

[fuhred]

The Yellow River Concerto certainly isn't lofty music, but it is exciting in the right hands. I have the old Decca recording (ahh, brings back memories...), and many others since. The recent Lang Lang performance is very good, also the Naxos recording is well worth a listen.
Speaking of the original Yellow River cantata, it is usually recorded with the fourth movement missing. Only one recording I know of includes it (Philips 422 013-2). It begins with a monologue for the speaker accompanied by the pi'pa, and then half-way through the movement this beautiful string motif comes in. Why this movement is normally left out eludes me.