Guan Xia: Symphony No. 2 Hope Nürnberger Symphoniker & En Shao

• 1 I. Expectation and Quest: Largo - Allegro - Largo 20:39
• 2 II. Warmth: Adagio 11:31
• 3 III. The Light: Allegro 11:44
• 4 I. Gazing at the Stars: Meditation (version for orchestra) 09:36
• 5 Sorrowful Dawn, Symphonic Ballade 18:11
• Total Runtime 01:11:41

Info for Guan Xia: Symphony No. 2 Hope

The music of renowned Chinese composer Xia Guan has been received with acclaim in Moscow, Vienna, Tokyo and New York. The solemn first movement of Earth Requiem, a commemoration of the devastating 2008 Sichuan earthquake, is heard here in an orchestral version that depicts ‘the suffering people who gaze upwards’. The epic Symphony No. 2 ‘Hope’ is a reflection upon the co-existence of good and evil in mankind, agony and hope, in music of considerable breadth and increasing warmth. Heroic drama animates the vividly scored Symphonic Ballade, which draws on the music of Guan’s opera Sorrowful Dawn, the story of China’s War of Liberation following the end of World War Two.

Nürnberger Symphoniker
En Shao, violin, direction

Nürnberger Symphoniker
Since its foundation in 1946 the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra has been active in all kinds of musical fields: opera, operetta, oratorio, film and, in particular, the orchestral concert. Acting as the concert orchestra of the European metropolitan area of Nuremberg, it brings classical music to an audience of almost 200,000 people every year, performing around one hundred concerts each season. The year 1993 represented a highlight in the orchestra’s history, when the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra won one of the coveted GRAMMY® Awards in Los Angeles for its sensational recording of the main title music for the TV series Beauty and the Beast, continuing a tradition of the 1950s, when the orchestra recorded the film scores for Ben Hur and Quo Vadis. The orchestra has performed for many years on the international stage, including Vienna, Prague, Milan, Japan and China, and has collaborated with distinguished musicians. The young British musician Alexander Shelley has served as Chief Conductor since 2009.

En Shao
Born in Tianjin in China, En Shao started to play the piano and violin at the ages of four and five respectively and by the age of eighteen was working as a composer, pianist and percussionist with a local orchestra. After graduating from the Beijing Central Conservatory he became second Principal Conductor of the Chinese Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, a post he held for five years, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Central Philharmonic Orchestra of China and the National Youth Orchestra of China. He is currently Chief Conductor of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the China National Symphony Orchestra and a Royal Northern College of Music Honorary Fellow. As winner of the Sixth Hungarian Television International Conductor’s Competition in 1989, he conducted several performances with leading Hungarian orchestras. In January 1990 he became Associate Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Between 1992 and 1995 he was Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Ulster Orchestra, with whom he made his Proms début. He has also held the positions of Principal Guest Conductor of the Euskadi Orchestra in Spain and Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Macau Orchestra.

Booklet for Guan Xia: Symphony No. 2 Hope