A duet for clarinet and guqin, using tonal and melodic materials echoing some infuences from Tang Dynasy Chinese music. This Guqin was made in Xian by LI Mingzhong and is fitted with silk strings. The clarinet is a Boosey and Hawkes 1010 clarinet in A, with a custom made mouthpiece and La Voz reed.

Ever Peaceful - 常安

This comes from a manuscript called Withered Wood Zen Qin Manuscript 枯木禅琴谱(Ku Mu Chan Qin Pu) by SHI Kongchen  释空尘 published in 1893. The manuscript contains 32 pieces, most of which are pre-existing repertoire edited and annotated by the author. There are several pieces, including Ku Mu Yin, which are original compositions by Kongchen. The music belongs within the Guang Ling 广陵school of qin playing, and this version of Ku Mu Yin is a recent reconstruction, from the original tablature, by Tony Wheeler. SHI Kongchen was a Chinese Zen priest for whom the qin was an integral part of his Zen practice. Ku Mu Chan is a particularly austere school of Chinese Zen.

Ku Mu Yin - Ode to Withered Wood

This piece, like Guang Han Qiu, comes from the 1425 Ming Dynasty Mysterious and Secret Manuscript. It relates to a much earlier time though, the end of the Wei period (around 260 A.D.) when intellectuals and artists were being severely persecuted by the governing class. Forced into seclusion for fear of death, they often took solace in wine. There is also the implication that, when officials arrived and began asking awkward questions, one could feign extreme drunkenness as a way to avoid having to provide answers.

Jiu Kuang - Mad Drunk

This simple yet elegant piece is full of traditional flavour, and comes from Qin Scores from the Distant Hall 自远堂琴谱 (Zi Yuan Tang Qin Pu) of 1802, a manuscript passed to us by Wu Hong 吴灴. Wu Hong was a representative figure in the Guang Ling 广陵school of qin.

Chun Xiao Yin - Ode to Spring Dawn

An original composition by Tony Wheeler, published in 2015, for guqin and zhongruan.

Cloud hands, or yun shou, is a form of movement in taiji quan (t’ai ch’i chuan) and some other Chinese martial arts, which is used in combat to deflect an opponent’s attacking punch or strike. Its main characteristic is that although appearing to be a very soft and fluid movement, in essence it possesses a high degree of internal strength which is transmitted to the opponent.
Various aspects of yun shou are expressed in this piece: the rhythm is relatively free and flowing; the interplay between consonant and dissonant intervals reflects the idea of strength within resilience. Harmonic materials are based around the somewhat free and creative use of a twelve-tone serial row. The repeated, rhythmic accompaniment riff in the middle section is also derived from the tone row.
Please note that the recording provided with this score is for demonstration and practice purposes only, and does not take into account the tempo change at bar 51.


Cloud Hands - Yun Shou

Tony Wheeler – guqin

Tony Wheeler studied guqin古琴 at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with LIN Youren 林友仁 from 1985 to 1987, as well as having regular lessons and discussions with him for the 26 years following that time. In Shanghai Tony also studied ruan 阮 (4-stringed Chinese guitar) with ZHU Xincheng 诸新诚 and composition with HE Zhanhao 何占豪.

LIN Youren (1938-2013) was one of the most highly respected qin players of the modern age, and himself studied with several of the most prominent qin masters of the 20th century. Mr LIN was officially named in 2008 as one of 10 national-level transmitters of qin music and culture in China. Tony also studied qin in Hong Kong with LAU Chor-wah 刘楚华 from 1988 to 1991. It was from LAU Chor-wah whom he learned, among other things, a deep appreciation of traditional silk strings.

Primarily due to the influence of LIN Youren, Tony Wheeler’s qin playing is deeply grounded in tradition. His style is simple, uncomplicated, and free of any unnecessary florid elaborations or ostentatious movement. Tony’s playing is natural and down to earth, with strong elements of spirituality which emanate from his practice of Zen 禅 meditation.

Tony Wheeler is also a professional clarinet and saxophone player, teacher and composer. He gradu¬ated from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in 1982, before going to the Shanghai Conservatory in 1985. After leaving Shanghai, Tony then studied and taught at the Uni¬versity of Hong Kong for four years before being awarded an M.Phil. in Composition for Chi¬nese instruments.

He has performed extensively on guqin in Australia and China, and has done much work on the da-pu 打谱 (reconstruction) of music from traditional guqin scores. Some of these reconstructions are featured on this CD. His da-pu of Walking with the Ancients 古交行 was published in China in 2011, and his essay on the reconstruction process of this piece was published in 2013 in the book Postscripts on the Resurrection of the Zither Manuscript of the Pine and Strings Hall  松弦馆琴谱钩沉打谱后记.

Guqin (Ancient 7-stringed zither)
The guqin (often referred to as the qin) is one of the oldest indigenous Chinese instru¬ments, having survived intact for well over two millennia. The qin is mentioned in liter¬ature of the Zhou era (11th cent. B.C. - 221B.C.), though at that time it probably only had five strings. By about 200 A.D. it had evolved to a shape and form which has changed little even to the present day. Originally qin strings were made of silk, although in the later decades of the 20th century many players in Mainland China preferred to use nylon-wound strings with a thin steel core. Steel-cored strings are more stable, less inclined to snap, and produce a louder sound. Their timbre, however, usually lacks some of the depth and sonority of silk strings.

All the pieces on this CD are played on silk strings. Two instruments were used in the recordings:
Track 2 is played on a China fir wood qin (named 禅钟 – Zen Bell) made by Nan Feng 南风 Qin Company in Yangzhou in 2011.
All other tracks are played on a paulownia wood qin (named 常安 – Constant Tranquility) made by LI Mingzhong 李明忠 in the 1990s.

Throughout history the qin has always been associated with the refined, scholarly and even mystical aspects of music-making. It is rather reclusive by nature, and is the sub¬ject of much folklore, but despite these mystical connections its sound has a direct and earthy presence, very much of this world. Acoustically it is relatively quiet, but possesses a rich palette of timbres and a wide range of more than 4 octaves. It is most suited to being played in quiet, intimate surroundings, where the often contemplative nature of the music may be fully appreciated.


Tony Wheeler guqin 安东尼-古琴

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