This fusion of Baroque chamber orchestra and Chinese instrumentation -- not only the sheng, but also erhu and bawu -- is something other than just blank pastiche. It does not reproduce a historical setting, but it might have. For one thing, Western and Chinese musicians are known to have interacted in the 18th century. One Western player, known as Dede the European, even earned fame at the Turkish sultan's court. The sheng, in fact, was introduced to Russia around 1770 and was likely the parent of the accordion, the ...
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This fusion of Baroque chamber orchestra and Chinese instrumentation -- not only the sheng, but also erhu and bawu -- is something other than just blank pastiche. It does not reproduce a historical setting, but it might have. For one thing, Western and Chinese musicians are known to have interacted in the 18th century. One Western player, known as Dede the European, even earned fame at the Turkish sultan's court. The sheng, in fact, was introduced to Russia around 1770 and was likely the parent of the accordion, the harmonica, and the other members of the free reed instrument family. Thus Silk Baroque, which combines the sheng and the Holland Baroque ensemble in various ways, has a nice feeling of how musicians might have felt their way in encountering unfamiliar music. Another point is that Dutch arrangers Judith and Tineke Steenbrink have placed the Chinese sounds in the context of a wider experimentation with exotic sounds in music of the 18th century. Telemann, who was a pioneer in this regard, and...
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