Will the increasing importance of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong as classical music markets lead to more collaborations like the one here between English tenor Ian Bostridge and Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang? It could be a desirable thing if so. The collaboration has already resulted in an album of music by Britten, but there's an added element here: Songs from Our Ancestors marks the debut of England's Globe Music label, named for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, but using the acoustically superior Sam Wanamaker Theatre next ...
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Will the increasing importance of China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong as classical music markets lead to more collaborations like the one here between English tenor Ian Bostridge and Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang? It could be a desirable thing if so. The collaboration has already resulted in an album of music by Britten, but there's an added element here: Songs from Our Ancestors marks the debut of England's Globe Music label, named for Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, but using the acoustically superior Sam Wanamaker Theatre next door. Honestly, you could buy Songs from Our Ancestors just for Yang's arrangement of a Ming Dynasty guqin piece for the guitar (Flowing Water). Sample this and luxuriate in the understated adaptations of Chinese materials for the guitar, and in the extraordinary, magical acoustics Yang and the engineers are able to produce. The title Songs from Our Ancestors isn't very accurate; most of the music is contemporary, and the dutiful Renaissance English work, a set of Dowland songs, is...
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