Master Tsar: The Art of the Qin

This double album of qin (classical Chinese zither) music is a tribute to traditional qin virtuoso Tsar Teh-yun from Hong Kong. The recordings were mostly privately produced in 1956 and between 1966 and 1989, but their sound quality is surprisingly good. Tsar Teh-yun was born in 1905 and single-handedly raised several generations of qin players in Hong Kong, living to be nearly 100. She studied with an acknowledged master, Shen Caonong, in Shanghai from 1934 onwards, and learned things the old way before moving to Hong Kong in 1950.

She gets the best out of the soft-toned qin, an instrument closely associated with Chinese traditional painting, poetry and calligraphy, producing clear bell-like tones and delicate harmonics. Her playing is in an unadorned and straightforward style that comes as a positive relief after the speedy and unidiomatic recordings released in the People's Republic of some younger players. Young talents often take more inspiration from Western virtuoso piano-playing than from the restrained meditative qin style represented by the likes of Teh-yun. A fine set for connoisseurs, this is also the only commercially issued collection we have of Teh-yun.