YANG, Liqing (b. April 1942) Chinese composer, Professor and vice-president of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, and the vice-chairman of the Musicians' Association of Shanghai. After his graduation from Shenyang Conservatory of Music, Mr. Yang Liqing studied for his MA of composition in Shanghai Conservatory of Music. From 1980 to 1983 he studied composition and piano further in Federal Germany and gained his diplomas in the Solistenklasse for composition and Ausbildungsklasse for piano in the Staatliche Hochschule Musik und Theater Hannover. In 1999, Mr. Yang won the title of Middle-aged Specialist with Outstanding Contribution" issured by Chinese government.
In this piece the composer has employed Zhong-hu (Alto Er-hu)- the ancient instrument imported to China from the Western Regions and Western symphony orchestra, as well as elements of ethnic music of the North-western regions of China. This piece evokes the beautiful memories and fantasies associated with the cultural exchanges between peoples of Central China and the Western regions during the ancient times through the description of the nuances of light, shadows, colours and change of twilights on the Silk Road.
Sanbaso is one part of a No- kyogen work "Okina (old man)" which consists 3 parts, Senzai-no-mai, Okina-no-mai and Sanbaso. Okina was concerned with one of the oldest ceremonies for celebration and Sanbaso is for a prayer of Gokoku-hojo (having abundant crops), which begins with brilliant and animated music and develops into rhythmic movements vibrant with the pulsation of life.
George Gershwin, a composer of over 800 popular songs including "Swanee", a mega hit in the history of American popular music, launched into a new start from 1919, the year the World War I ended, as a composer of musical comedy. Besides this he created such new genres as Symphonic Jazz and Jazz Opera, the latter of which culminated the immortal masterwork "Porgy and Bess", containing a very famous song "Summertime". "Rhapsody in Blue", a masterpiece merrying the form of piano concerto with jazz and orchestrated by his friend and composer F.Grofe (1892-1972), was composed in 1924 as a commissioned work by "the King of Jazz" Paul Whiteman's Jazz Orchestra, with which Gershwin was under exclusive contract. The work contains very fresh and extraordinary music, and made the composer's name world-wide well-known.