Yellow River

The composer Xian Xinghai (1905-1945), who had been trained in Europe and, well familiarized with European music culture, had returned to his home country in 1935, concentrated on utility music, with political mass songs being of particular fascination to him.

During this time, he composed his most famous work, the eight-movement cantata Yellow River, written between November 1938 and April 1939. Based on poems by Guang Weiran which were focused on the resistance of the Chinese people to the Japanese invaders, Xian’s musical setting combines Chinese folk melodies with Peking opera elements and elements of traditional European art music.

30 years later, during the Cultural Revolution between 1966 and 1976, the cantata Yellow River grew again in popularity. In 1969, Yin Chengzong and other arrangers reworked the eight-movement cantata into a piano concerto. Scored for classical instruments, it is now a multi-faceted piece of music: Ranging from huge expressivity and high drama via contemplative moments to great emotionalism and wit, its solo part demands the utmost in virtuosity from the pianist. This may be the reason why the members of the Philadelphia Orchestra called the concerto ‘Yellow Fever Concerto’ when they first performed it outside China in 1973.