Flow

Flow is a collaborative work between Wu Man – generally considered the world's greatest player of the Chinese pipa – and her Silkroad Ensemble colleague Kojiro Umezaki, a virtuoso of the Japanese shakuhachi. While both instruments are highly distinctive and popular in their respective traditions, they are seldom heard together. A surprise, considering that the two complement each other beautifully – the bright, rich tone of the pipa provides an impeccable harmonic grounding for the breathy overtones of the shakuhachi. This is bolstered by the pair's clearly established working rapport. Structured as a five-part tone poem representing the changing seasons, with all pieces being composed by the duo, Flow is as much a product of the duo's shared California home as it is China or Japan.

The album opens with the pipa solo ‘Winter (Night Thoughts II)’, with a theme based on eighth-century notation discovered in Buddhist caves at Dunhuang. This is followed by the ebullient duet ‘Spring’, and a second pipa solo representing ‘Summer’ – a flawlessly executed and dynamic piece that would sit comfortably among the wen (civil) style traditional repertoire. ‘Autumn’ – the final track to feature both players – is possibly the most experimental piece, with electronically manipulated fragments of pipa underscoring the duo, who gradually build to a pulsing climax. The shakuhachi solo ‘Bamboo’ concludes the cycle, removing it entirely from the flow of seasons, providing a suitably meditative end to a succinct yet charming collaboration.