Zhu Jainer: Symphonies Vol. 3 (n.d.)

Zhu is exceptional among Chinese composers of his generation for his remarkable capacity to adapt himself to the changing political climate. After his studies in Moscow his brazenly Romantic music was criticized in China for its revisionist spirit and he stopped composing for a while. In the late 1960s he was swept along by the revolutionary ardour of the Maoists and began to compose choral cantatas on texts of Mao Zedong. By the end of the Cultural Revolution he had lost faith in his political music and in himself, but in the 1980s he embarked on an astonishing second career as an orchestral composer of in contemporary and even experimental inclinations.

His Symphony no.1, completed in 1986, is musically indebted to Britten and Shostakovich and took him nine years to write. In subsequent explorations in this genre he paid tribute to many Western models, from Bartók to Ligeti and beyond. His moving Symphony no.4 (1990) for dizi and strings, which won the Queen Marie José prize in Geneva, shows that true musical innovation in China is not the exclusive domain of younger composers. Of the nine symphonies Zhu had composed by 1998, three were completed in 1994 during a stay in the USA.
Zhu's Symphony No. 10, "Fishing in Snow", is in many ways a summation of the composer's symphonic output. Taking as its inspiration a pre-recorded tape performance of the classic Tang Dynasty poem by Liu Zongyuan, "Fishing in Snow" - a general lament over political corruption and societal decay - Zhu weaves a poly-stylistic symphonic web that freely combines pentatonic romanticism and serial techniques. This, the last of Zhu's symphonies ideally characterizes his output as a composer: politically conscious, responsive to many contemporary artistic and stylistic innovations and deeply rooted within the artistic and cultural traditions of China.
Tracks:
CD 1
01. Symphony No. 7 op. 36
"Sounds of Heaven and Earth and Humans" for Five Percussionists
Symphony No. 8 "Seeking" op. 37
Chamber Symphony for Cello and Percussion
02. I. Senza misura - Andante - Allegro
03. II. Lento meditando
04. III. Allegro - Maestoso - Lento - Allegro
05. Sinfonietta op. 38
CD 2
Symphony No. 9 op. 43
for Orchestra and Children's Chorus
01. I. Lento - Moderato - Maestoso
02. II. Lento
03. III. Allegro - Adagio. Tranquillo
04. Symphony No. 10 op. 42
for Tape and Orchstra