09/04/2011

Chinese Composer Guo Wenjing

 

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Guo Wenjing is a composer who lives in China. His work has been taken abroad many times to amaze international audiences. The New York Times once claimed that he is the only world-renowned Chinese musician who never settled down in a foreign country. Today, our reporter Zhao Yang will tell us the story of Guo Wenjing and his music.

Reporter:
You are listening to "Shu Dao Nan", or literally the "Sichuan Road", composed by Guo Wenjing in 1990s. He was inspired by a poem with the same name written 1,000 years ago by the famous poet Li Bai. The poem describes the precipitous and steep roads in the mountainous Sichuan area.

Born in Chongqing city in Sichuan area in 1950s, Guo Wenjing has a deep feeling for his hometown. Besides "Shu Dao Nan", most of his early works are also related to Sichuan, like the concerto "Desolated Mountain" and "Symphony Suspended Coffins on the Cliffs in Sichuan". Though these music works are all named after typical Sichuan sceneries, Guo Wenjing explains what he wanted to express.

"Actually, my music is about Sichuan people rather than Sichuan landscapes. They depict the stubborn spirit of the residents there and my love for my hometown."

Guo Wenjing's fondness for music was cultivated in childhood. At that time, China was suffering social unrest caused by the Cultural Revolution. To ensure little Guo Wenjing's safety, his parents bought him a violin at age 12 to keep him at home. Guo Wenjing gradually understood the charm of music and a few years later, became a professional musician in a local art troupe in Chongqing. There he was attracted by the Russian composer Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich's 11th symphony.

"In his 11th symphony, there is a song about the revolution in Warsaw. It is amazing. When you listen to it, you can immediately picture a scene of the soldiers marching in your mind. The song is very easy to understand. So I decided to be a composer and express my thoughts through music."

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Sep 4, 2011 4:03:08 PM | Art, Culture, Current Affairs

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