China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra
Encyclopedia
The China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra (Chinese: 中国广播民族乐团; also called Central Broadcasting Traditional Instruments Orchestra) is a major Chinese orchestra
based in Beijing
, comprising a large group of traditional Chinese musical instruments
. It is a consolidation of the Chinese Film Orchestra Chinese Music Orchestra (中国电影乐团民族乐团), which was founded in 1949, and the original China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra (中国广播民族乐团), which was founded in 1953. They came to the United States under the auspices of the Chinese Music Society of North America
.
Its most famous conductor was Peng Xiuwen
. Recordings by the Orchestra of pieces such as "Dance of the Yao People
," "Purple Bamboo Melody," "The Moon Reflected in Two Springs," "The Moon On High," "Days of Emancipation," "Dancing in the Moonlight," and "Spring on a Moonlit River" were disseminated widely throughout China and still widely known, and a compilation of the orchestra's music entitled Phases of the Moon: Traditional Chinese Music, produced by the China Record Company and released by CBS in 1981, was one of the first and best known recordings of Chinese music in the West. Succeeding Peng Xiuwen in 1997 as the orchestra's conductor was Peng Jiapeng (彭家鹏, b. 1965).
The orchestra originally had over 70 members (including a group singing folk songs) but has now 96 members. The orchestra's musicians utilize more than 30 types of traditional and modernized Chinese instruments as well as cello
- and double bass
-like instruments called laruan
and dalaruan. Since 1957 it has performed overseas in the USSR, Czechoslovakia
, Bulgaria
, Romania
, Yugoslavia
, Albania
, East Germany, Italy
, Japan
, and Malta
.
Chinese orchestra
The term Chinese Orchestra can refer to either:* The ancient Chinese Orchestra, or* The modern Chinese Orchestra-The ancient Chinese Orchestra:...
based in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, comprising a large group of traditional Chinese musical instruments
Traditional Chinese musical instruments
-The Eight Sounds or Eight Tones :The eight categories are: silk, bamboo, wood, stone, metal, clay, gourd and hide. There are other instruments which may not fit these classifications. This is one of the first musical classifications ever.-Silk :...
. It is a consolidation of the Chinese Film Orchestra Chinese Music Orchestra (中国电影乐团民族乐团), which was founded in 1949, and the original China Broadcasting Chinese Orchestra (中国广播民族乐团), which was founded in 1953. They came to the United States under the auspices of the Chinese Music Society of North America
Chinese Music Society of North America
The Chinese Music Society of North America was organized in 1969 and was officially founded in 1976 as a federal non-profit international organization to increase and diffuse the knowledge of Chinese music and performing arts...
.
Its most famous conductor was Peng Xiuwen
Peng Xiuwen
Peng Xiuwen was a noted Chinese conductor and composer. He was a native of Wuhan, in the Hubei province of central China....
. Recordings by the Orchestra of pieces such as "Dance of the Yao People
Dance of the Yao People
Dance of the Yao People is one of the best known and most popular Chinese instrumental compositions of the second half of the 20th century...
," "Purple Bamboo Melody," "The Moon Reflected in Two Springs," "The Moon On High," "Days of Emancipation," "Dancing in the Moonlight," and "Spring on a Moonlit River" were disseminated widely throughout China and still widely known, and a compilation of the orchestra's music entitled Phases of the Moon: Traditional Chinese Music, produced by the China Record Company and released by CBS in 1981, was one of the first and best known recordings of Chinese music in the West. Succeeding Peng Xiuwen in 1997 as the orchestra's conductor was Peng Jiapeng (彭家鹏, b. 1965).
The orchestra originally had over 70 members (including a group singing folk songs) but has now 96 members. The orchestra's musicians utilize more than 30 types of traditional and modernized Chinese instruments as well as cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
- and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
-like instruments called laruan
Laruan
The lāruǎn is a relatively new Chinese string instrument blending the acoustics of the ruan with that of the Western cello...
and dalaruan. Since 1957 it has performed overseas in the USSR, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
, Albania
Albania
Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
, East Germany, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
.