Chinese art songs demonstrated with painting and calligraphy at Shanghai Library
The Shanghai Library has enriched its sound achieve with music albums donated by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
The self-brand albums cover Chinese art songs, performance recordings, and original creations by renowned alumni of the conservatory.
Shanghai Conservatory of Music's "Shangyin" brand was launch at the MIDEM music trade fair in Cannes, France, in 2018. Reaching cooperation with China Record Group, the brand aims to introduce quality Chinese original music creations and recordings of important performances to the world.
Shanghai Conservatory of Music's "Shangyin" albums.
The albums include "A Century of Violin Works by Chinese Composers," "Red Army Long March Songs," and a recording of baritone Liao Changyong's Chinese art song recital in Vienna.
Art songs, in a broad sense, can include opera arias, stage musical songs and narrative song cycles. In China, they often refer to classical poetry set to song.
When planning for the art song recital, Liao said he had received support from artists Wang Jiafang and Ding Xiaofang, who created Chinese painting and calligraphy works for each of the art songs.
The Chinese painting and calligraphy works are on display at Shanghai Library's lecture hall.
"I have brought the paintings and calligraphy works to a lot of cities, including Geneva, Vienna, and Karlsruhe," said Liao, who is also the president of Shanghai Conservatory of Music. "They have helped to better introduce Chinese art songs to the world."
The paintings and calligraphy works have been put on exhibition at Shanghai Library's lecture hall this weekend. Record players are arranged beside the art works to give visitors an immersive experience when listening to the art songs.
