A Collection of Liu Mingyuan's Huqin Works (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: Liu Xiang (Compiler)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-10-01
Features: Liu Mingyuan, a renowned folk musician, master of bowed string instruments, educator, and composer, enjoying special government subsidies. He served as a council member of the China Music, vice chairman of the China National Orchestral Music, a member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the Jiu San Society, and a professor at the China Conservatory of Music. In 1952, he joined the China Film Orchestra as a performer and participated in the music recording for the film "Dragon Canal," becoming one of the first professional folk musicians in the new China's film orchestra. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to promoting the performance, creation, and reform of Chinese folk instrumental music. Over more than four decades, he tirelessly cultivated the field of folk music, making unique and outstanding contributions in performance, composition, and teaching of folk instruments.
Over the decades, Mr. Liu Mingyuan diligently studied and mastered more than ten types of Chinese bowed string instruments, including the banhu, erhu, gaohu, zhonghu, jinghu, sihu, zhuihu, and morin khuur. His versatile performances on multiple instruments were effortless and fluid. He actively engaged in instrument reform, particularly elevating the banhu and zhonghu to the stage of solo performances. His banhu solos, such as "Great Rising Board" and "Qinqiang Tune," and his composition and performance of the zhonghu solo "On the Grassland," as well as the erhu solo "Henan Folk Tune," have become timeless masterpieces.
From 1952 to 1982, Mr. Liu Mingyuan worked in film music. Starting in 1953, he served as the principal of the folk orchestra of the China Film Orchestra. Over his three decades with the orchestra, he participated in the recording of music for thousands of newsreels, feature films, and educational films, including "The Great Reform," "Blessings," "Lin Jiazi's Shop," "Red Flag," "Trench Warfare," "Spring Wind and Wild Fire Struggle in Ancient City," and "Mei Lanfang's Stage Art." In the 1950s and 1960s, under the advocacy of Premier Zhou Enlai, he composed, arranged, and performed a large number of folk light music pieces deeply loved by the masses, such as "Malan Flower Blooms," "Happy Year," "Shepherdess," and "Joyful Yang."
In 1957, he represented young Chinese artists at the Sixth World Festival of Youth and Students, winning a gold medal in the folk instrument performance competition. Over the decades, he traveled to more than 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Americas, and Europe, carrying with him more than ten types of bowed string instruments.