Great Wall Capriccio

Introduction

Liu Wenjin's erhu concerto, completed in 1981 and premiered by Min Huifen at the 1982 Shanghai Spring festival.

Great Wall Capriccio is a concerto for erhu and Chinese orchestra by the composer Liu Wenjin. In the late 1970s Liu and the erhu player Min Huifen visited the United States, and a huge tapestry of the Great Wall at the United Nations headquarters gave him the idea for the work. He finished it in the spring of 1981, and the orchestral score was finalized in 1982. On 15 May 1982, at the new-works concert of the tenth Shanghai Spring festival, Min Huifen gave the premiere as soloist with the Shanghai Chinese Orchestra under Qu Chunquan. The concerto has four movements, titled Through the Passes, Beacon Fires, Rites for Loyal Souls and Gazing Afar.

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Parts

1. Through the PassesLike a poet walking the mountain passes, the erhu muses on the rise and fall of ages.
2. Beacon FiresAn ancient battle under beacon fires; the erhu borrows the drive of Beijing opera.
3. Rites for Loyal SoulsBells and an erhu cadenza mourn the nameless soldiers who died defending the nation.
4. Gazing AfarThe first movement's theme returns, and a brilliant coda looks to the nation's future.