Huang An-Lun - partial CD discography

[C R Lim]

These discs are hard to find, but worth tracking down as they most rewarding. They were only issued in China and Hong Kong, to my knowledge.

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Piano Concerto No. 1 ("Dragon") Op. 25b (1982)
Joseph Banowetz, piano; Beijing Central Opera Orchestra,  Zheng Xiao-Ying
Hong Kong Records 8.242108 (1986, P 1988 )

BMG re-issue HKD-110 (1990)*

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Piano Concerto No. 1 ("Dragon") Op. 25b (last movement only)
Joseph Banowetz, piano; Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Kenneth Schermerhorn
Marco Polo 8.223915 (1986, P 1987)

This is a live performance from the "1st Contemporary Chinese Composers Festival" and is one of the few recordings available in the West. It first sparked my interest in this composer.

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"China Capriccio" Orchestral transcription of "Overture and Dance" for piano
Beijing Central Opera Orchestra,  Zheng Xiao-Ying

In collection "Chinese Orchestral Music"
Hong Kong Records 8.880040 (1984)

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Symphonic Poem "Bayanhar" Op. 50 (1990)
Opera Overture "Yue Fei" Op. 37 (1985)
Streams of Sorrow, for String Orchestra
Chinese Rhapsody No. 3 Op. 46b (1989, saxophone & strings) with Paul Brodie, saxophone
Moscow Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Lai Tak-Ng
ROI Productions RA-971010C (1997)

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Symphonic Overture no. 1 Op. 25a (1977)
Two Pieces in Saibei Folk Style -
1. A Morning Song on the Mountains Op. 15 (1973)
2. Saibei Dance Op. 21 (1975)
Capriccio for Clarinet and Strings Op. 41 (1987, with James Campbell, Clarinet)

Moscow Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Lai Tak-Ng
ROI Productions RA-971011C (1997)

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Symphonic Overture No. 2 Op. 47a (1989)
Violin Concerto in B (sic) Op. 47b (1996, with Lu Si-Qing, violin)

Moscow Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Lai Tak-Ng
ROI Productions RA-971012C (1997)

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"Selected Choral Works" (2-CD set)

A Psalm of David Op. 43 (1987 - setting of Psalm 22 for soprano, baritone, mixed choir and organ)
Two Anthems Op.32 (1982):
1. Holy Image I can Trace (wds. William Blake)
2. Hallelujah

Jane Chu, Dmitry Trapeznikov, Yurlov State Academic Chorus, Stanislav Gusev

ROI Productions RA-991002C (1999)

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"Dream of Dunhuang" ballet in 3 acts Op. 29 (1979-80) (2-CD set)

Moscow Russian Philharmonic Orchestra,  the composer

ROI Productions RA-0010013C (2000)

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Piano  Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 57 (1999)
Hsu Fei-Ping, piano; Moscow Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Konstantin Krimets
Poem for Dance, Op. 40 No. 3
Hsu Fei-Ping, piano

ROI Productions CD-0064 (2001, P 2002)

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"The Little Match Girl", ballet in 1 act after H.C. Andersen Op. 24 (1977)
Moscow Russian Philharmonic Orchestra,  the composer

Suite from the ballet, with Mandarin commentary by Zhang Yue
Beijing Central Opera Orchestra,  Zheng Xiao-Ying

ROI Productions CD-0163 (1996, 1978, P unknown)

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*Klaus Heymann sold most of the Hong Kong Records catalogue to BMG. He later regretted this, as he lost control of the earliest recordings of violinist Takako Nishizaki (a.k.a. Mrs Heymann).

[eschiss1]

An interesting output (and I think someone may have posted samples to their page quite a few ages ago, or -something- or other or other, because I recall hearing parts of some of these pieces quite awhile ago and liking them.)

[C R Lim]

Thank you Eric.

My main intention was indeed to highlight the diversity of this composer's output. Having said that, for myself the most rewarding works are the concertante pieces and the ballets.

In these  recordings An-Lun himself proves he is a more than capable conductor. His father, Huang Fei-Li, studied under Hindemith at Yale and subsequently founded the school of conducting at the Beijing Conservatory. Having survived the Cultural Revolution, Huang sr. was still active into his nineties (not unusual for conductors!).

It is interesting that, as far as I can tell, there have been no significant commercial recordings of An-Lun's work since early 2001. There have been re-hashes of some of the above material, and a few of the smaller pieces have appeared on non-Chinese labels (the "Saibei Dance" appears to have become something of a pop item). For the rest we have to make do with live performances on You Tube and similar sites. This demonstrates that the music is being played, but no-one seems to want to back another series like the Moscow sessions.

Answers on a postcard, please.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks. Any idea where the CDs might be found?

[C R Lim]

Your best bet is the Chinese equivalent of eBay, www.taobao.com

Outside of China, buying on Taobao is an arcane and hazardous operation, infested with agents who will bid for you, ship the item abroad, and take a commission of varying size. I make no recommendations, as the performance of these agents is not consistent.

An-Lun himself emigrated to Canada in 1980 (see https://www.musiccentre.ca/node/37606/biography ) and copies of CDs occasionally turn up from Canadian resellers.

[promusician]

I found some links to some of the CDs by 115.com, a cloud storage platform in china, but unfortunately it need a china mobile number to register. I assume every CD listed are out of print and the marco polo disc is available for download only. I have been told that the chinese recording company which issued many of Huang's music has ended its business.

[C R Lim]

That's pretty much the case, however there are copies of the Marco Polo CD on eBay, search for "Contemporary Chinese Composers" under Music.

[jerfilm]

A search thru YouTube will net quite a few gems

J

[C R Lim]

Thanks Jerry, any recommendations aside from those posted in the previous thread http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,5407.msg56872.html#msg56872

[C R Lim]

Marco Polo has announced the re-release of Piano Concerto No. 1 - first as a download. The physical CD will be available in January 2016.

http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.225830