The spiciest qin cuisine around

[SCWGuqin]

If you haven't heard Wang Huade, you're missing a truly unique and visionary qin player. Born in 1922, he was selected by HUGO to start their digital-age qin releases, with "Sichuan Qin Music" vol. 1. This CD is one of my most treasured qin CDs, but its appeal might not be apparent at first to all. That's because WHD has what one might ordinarily consider terrible intonation. His execution of pitches is generally "messy" and weird, and his rhythms are highly unpredictable. But I'm almost certain he's entirely deliberate about this, because the results must be heard to be believed. Driving and multifaceted and, for lack of a better word, spiritual. Aside from the fact that he plays a Lei Wei qin, which has possibly the best tone color I've ever heard. After struggling for a long time with the "standard" Shanghai version of Zuiyu Changwan, it suddenly occurred to me that WHD also played this piece. So I went into WHD mode. Ecstasy followed. Etc. Etc. Listen to this man.

Plus, last year, at age 84, he got married to a student of his, who was herself 59. Way to go weirdo spicy spiritual qin master!

[Si]

Yeah I like this cd too!

I have often wondered about his and many other qin masters "bad notes". Listen to the Xie Xiaoping: The Bell of Duke Ji. To me it sounds quite odd - i played it in the office and it sounded so out of tune I had to stop it for fear of offending someone.

[SCWGuqin]

I think Xie Xiaoping might be in a similar category.

Listen to Zhang Ziqian in the 50s vs the 80s. When old, his intonation has suffered, but the musicality is even better. I think qin culture demonstrates that musicality and conventionally beautiful technique are not the same thing.

[charliecharlieecho]

The same applies to Guan Pinghu too. (But be careful not to say so to his students.)

[SCWGuqin]

Yeah, but unlike the other two mentioned, GPH seems to have a very "straightforward" or "square" approach to music. Strict, regular rhythms, clear intonation, crisp ornaments. So even if his technique/intonation wasn't up to contemporary standards, the effect is quite different from the headlong weirdo stuff. And in the latter I do include old ZZQ, though perhaps not young ZZQ.