Chinese Traditional Music

iTunes Review

The zheng (also known as the guzheng) or Chinese zither is more than two thousand years old and has played an important role in China’s court and folk music. The most common version of the instrument has 21 strings, is typically tuned to a pentatonic scale, and has a range of more than three octaves. There are a number of different zheng schools in China, and each one has its own traditions. Hong Ting plays a variety of instrumental compositions on this 2004 release rooted in the various schools of playing. The pieces included are sometimes derived from traditional dance tunes or operas or poems, and are often inspired by the beauty of the natural world. “The Warbling Birds,” a traditional Shandong piece, hints at the sounds of bird song. “The Sorrow of Lady Zhaojun,” which has its origins in the Kejia school, was inspired by the story of Lady Zhaojun, who must marry the king of a neighboring Hun kingdom to save her own land. It’s a slow, haunting piece that brims with mystery and melancholia. The album pleasantly closes with the rippling runs of “The Flowing Springs in the Ravine.”