Ge Gan-ru: Fall Of Baghdad

ModernWorks Ensemble

Ge Gan-Ru: String Quartets No. 1, "Fu", No. 4, "Angel Suite" and No. 5, "Fall of Baghdad"

Wholenote Discoveries - September 2009
Touted as China's "first avant-garde composer", Ge Gan-Ru was born in Shanghai in 1954. His violin studies were interrupted by the Cultural Revolution but in 1974 when the Shanghai Conservatory re-opened he returned, switching his major to composition three years later. His first major work, Yi Feng (Lost Style) for "radically detuned cello", was received with consternation and criticism, but established him as a pioneer. This was followed by his first string quartet Fu (Prose-Poem) which was a work-in-progress when he was invited to New York to study with Chou Wen-chung at Columbia University in 1982. Fu was picked up by the Kronos Quartet shortly after its completion and Ge went on to receive his doctorate from Columbia in 1991 and continues to live in the USA. This CD presents distinctly different quartets from 1983 (Fu), 1998 (Angel Suite) and 2007 (The Fall of Baghdad), providing glimpses into the development of this multi-faceted and culturally innovative composer. David Olds

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