operabeijing.com

Hello,

I posted the videos below a year ago. Today, Fern found these illustrations  from the books mentioned in the videos at http://bbs.enet.com.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=99563&extra=page%3D1&page=1

We think they have been reproduced in a book called 升平署戏曲人物画册.

I’ve tried my best to adjust the colors from the predominant yellow, and to resize them to fit here.

You can download the original unretouched images in higher resolution here.

There are few things in life as pure and beautiful Beijing Opera. These are simply magnificent.

(Update)

The World Digital Library Online also has these illustrations in high definition online under the title “Office of Great Peace Album of Opera Faces“and you can download a very nice PDF there (also mirrored here).

(The dates seems wrong if you compare those mentioned in the video ?)

The book pictured above is several hundred years old.

Its story in three parts.

Download Part One

Download Part Two

Download Part Three

This is the first time I cross-post a video pointing to another web site, and one of the rare times I add the “Among Our Top Picks” category. That category should never be used lightly, only for something absolutely top-notch, fascinating, and yes, even superhuman.

If you are not very familiar with Beijing Opera, then I am pretty sure you have not seen a performance like this before.

Actor Jin Xiquan is one of Fern’s favorites (well, let’s say he’s in her top three), and this week she posted this stunning video of him singing with a hybrid symphonic and Beijing orchestra.

Drop everything you are doing and go watch it, it’s just amazing.

And don’t forget to enjoy!

Hello!

I took a very rare scheduled day off from work to rest and relax today.

And I started writing this post. Before I was done, I accidentally posted it without noticing, walked off and took a nap. When I woke up, Fern had already emailed me about it with explanations and links. So, not just a little bit amazed, I’ve decided to repost this with Fern’s input, seeing as it wasn’t done in the first place.

This very recent 2011-06-11 production of 《铁面无私清官谱》Tiemian Wusi Qingguan Pu (List of Incorrupt Officials) stars Tang Yuancai (唐元才) in the well-know and recurring role of Judge Bao, along with the bubbly and expressive actress Xiong Mingxia (熊明霞) as the emperor’s hot calendar girl Pang Fei. It was performed by the Shanghai Jingju Troupe at the Tianchan Yifu Theater.

I posted a concert video a couple of weeks ago with a superb Tang Yuancai here. Fern has several really nice posts relating to Xiong Mingxia here, and some of those posts are even about opera! (*kidding*)

According to this reference, around the year 150, many educated men in China who applied themselves increasingly to independent learning, debates and new writing genres, also became widely known for their reformist stances and overtly political views. Such men were often labelled by their contemporaries as “pure officials” (qingguan), that is, officials usually associated with court ritual, education, and administration, and free of eunuch and empress-family links. The real-life Judge Bao came along in fact about 900 years later, but “due to his fame and the strength of his reputation, Bao’s name became synonymous with the idealised “honest and upright official” (qingguan 清官), and quickly became a popular subject of early vernacular drama and literature.” (ref) In many stories Bao is accompanied by his personal secretary, the righteous and incorruptible Gongsun Ce (公孙策), among others.

Here are Fern’s notes:

“The storyline of《清官册》Qingguan Ce (List of Incorrupt Officials)  I found  did not match the story we see in this video. It became clearer only when I found this same play on the site of Tianchan Yifu Theater (http://www.tianchan.com/ticket/487) with the same date, and from the description I figured out the following :

The story is titled 《铁面无私清官谱》 (which translates to “List of Honest and Incorruptible Officials” as well).

The story is set during the Northern Song dynasty, and there was a big drought in Chenzhou county. On imperial order, the emperor’s maternal uncle, Pang Yu, is sent to Chengzhou to distribute grain to the people. But he and the local official conspire to embezzle the provisions.

Having no other choice, many commoners arrive to Kaifeng, the capital at that time, and complain about the injustice. The emperor orders judge Bao Zheng to investigate and handle the case.

Imperial tutor Pang Ji and his daughter, imperial concubine Pang Fei borrow the imperial chariot to obstruct Bao Zheng on the way. Bao Zheng repeatedly asks them to move away, but Pang Fei refuses to let him pass.

Judge Bao gets angry and destroys the chariot. The Emperor wants to order the execution of Bao Zheng, but Zhao Defang, Emperor Taizu’s fourth son and senator Kou Zhun ask for leniency. Taizong finally pardons Bao and gives him the imperial sword, thus permitting him to act first and report later.

Bao Zheng travels to Chengzhou. Upon his arrival, he investigates the case in detail.

With the military aid of the brave Zhan Zhao, they manage to subdue Pang Yu, though Pang Ji and his henchmen try to hinder them.

Justice is done when Judge Bao orders the execution of Pang Yu and the corrupt officials.”

Also in the cast: the old woman with a diamond on her forehead, no doubt to indicate she is noble deep down inside (she is great at around 21:00)

The treacherous official Pang Ji (booo!)

Xiong Mingxia, sporting a double scoop hairdo, exhibits what throat singing control is all about from 45:33 on. With this actress, to me, it’s a lot about singing technique. She also has a lot of intrigue in her eyes and is fun to watch.

(from Wikipedia) “ In most dramatisation of his stories, Judge Bao used a set of guillotines (Chinese: 鍘刀; pinyin: zhádāo; Literal: lever-knife), given to him by the emperor, to execute criminals (…)  The one decorated with a tiger’s head (Chinese: 虎頭鍘; pinyin: hǔtóuzhá; Literal: tiger-headed lever-knife) was used on government officials.”

This explains the tiger and what happens to the bad guy at the end:

Judge Bao’s command at 2:27:28 to execute the criminal is pretty easy to understand!

(update 2011-09-24) Fern sent me another email with the following info:

“The official title of this play in question, staged by the Shanghai Jingju Troupe is “Tiemian Wusi Qingguan Pu”. It shares some characters from Qingguan Ce, like Zhao Defang and Kou Zhun, and also translates as “List of Honest and Incorrupt Officials”, but actually the story is based on a drama titled《打銮驾》”Da Luanjia” (Crashing the Imperial Chariot), which belonged to the repertoire of Wang Zhengbing (hualian) and Fei Sanjin (xiaosheng) around 1890. In Da Luanjia, the favorite concubine tries to protect her brother (who embezzled the relief grain) by blocking Judge Bao’s way three times with the royal vehicles. This story fits our play.

My sources: http://www.tianchan.com/info/263, http://www.hudong.com/wiki/, and Peking Opera Synopses in English.

Cast for this post’s video:
Judge Bao: Tang Yuancai (唐元才)
Concubine Pang: Xiong Mingxia (熊明霞)
Kou Zhun: Qi Baoyu (齐宝玉)
Zhao Defang: Xu Jianzhong (徐建忠)
Zhan Zhao: Lan Tian (蓝天)
Mrs. Liu: Hu Xuan (胡璇)
Pang Ji: Dong Hongsong (董洪松)
Pang Yu: Yang Donghu (杨东虎)
Zhao Zhen (Emperor Renzong): Li Chun (李春)
Zhao Bin, minister of war: Yu Wei (虞伟)
Wang Yanling: Guo Yi (郭毅)
Chengzhou prefectural magistrate Zang Daodi: Luo Jiakang (罗家康)
Ren Hu and Ren Biao (the two guys sent to assassinate Bao at the relay station): Liang Guohui (梁国辉); Wang Yuhao (王钰皓)

I made a group image of characters as they are in the cast list” (below)

The video, although overall a bit compressed, is of very nice quality picture and sound and the opera is 2 1/2 hours long. File size is 795 MB and format is .mkv

Click here to download the video

Some additional photos of this performance, taken with a Konica Minolta digital camera (the label on all the JPG images), borrowed from http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_61c0e26401017hum.html and  http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_61c0e26401017huz.html

Enjoy!

Last week I discovered a studio CD by my favorite singer I did not know existed here.

I had seen the cover to this Zhang Huoding CD before, but it seemed so amateurish I thought it was a live audience recording being distributed. But no, it is a very good recording of the singer at her peak in 2005.

I posted a couple of tracks from this a while back, without knowing the origin, here and here. The CD seems to be out of print everywhere at the moment. But don’t worry, we’ll start a petition.

Later this week, I stumbled on two more nice live MP3 recordings by Madame Huoding, first an aria from the Butterfly Lovers opera, then from the Dragon and the Phoenix.

The source of the latter two was here.

Finally, to round out the week, Fern found some rare audience video recordings of Zhang Huoding.

She wrote me, “I was sorting out my folders and suddenly I got an idea, regarding a complete Da Deng Dian with Zhang Huoding. That opera is part of the Red-maned Fierce Horse (Hongzong Liema) monster play, and almost always only
a few acts are performed together at once, Wujia Po and Da Deng Dian are always inside though.

I started to search for “红鬃烈马” “张火丁” and found some valuable information:

The Mandarin Duck Grave you recently uploaded was performed in Chang’an Grand Theatre 2006/11/24. (Before that, there was a performance by Zhang Huoding’s brother).

The next day, 2006/11/25 there was a performance of Hongzong Liema, in which Zhang Huoding starred in the Wujia Po and the Da Deng Dian parts. [Fern mentions that she is looking for the the first part, Bie Yao, played by Jin Xiquan and Xiong Mingxia.]

I found only this copy so far:
http://operabeijing.com/megapoxy/videos/Dadengdian_Zhang_Huoding.flv

It’s small but not that bad. They lift up the zhanghuoding.com banner at the end like after the Mandarin Ducks.

(In) the channel of the same individual who uploaded the Mandarin Duck Grave here, there was this atypical piece there too, a full Sitting in the Palace w/ Zhang Huoding and Du Zhenjie:
http://operabeijing.com/megapoxy/videos/Zuo_Gong_Zhang_Huoding.flv

Crappy quality but it’s kind of a rarity I guess. The oh-so-famous part starts at 30:54.

The full cast for these two days’ performances is as follows:

11/24

《武文华》 张火千 蔡景超 Wu Wenhua (Zhang Huoqian, Cai Jingchao)

《鸳鸯冢》 张火丁 宋小川 李崇善 寇春华 吕昆山 金立水 唐禾香 黄涛 Mandarin Duck Grave (Zhang Huoding,
Song Xiaochuan, Li Chongshan, Kou Chunhua, Lü Kunshan, Jin Lishui)

 11/25

《红鬃烈马》 Red-maned Fierce Horse

《别窑》 金喜泉 熊明霞 Pinggui Leaves His Home (Jin Xiquan, Xiong Mingxia)

《武家坡》 张火丁 杜镇杰 Wujia Slope (Zhang Huoding, Du Zhenjie)

《银空山》 邓敏 宋小川 马翔飞 寇春华 吕昆山 黄文俊 陈真治 Silver Sky Mountain (Deng Min, Song Xiaochuan, Ma Xiangfei, Kou Chunhua, Lü Kunshan, Huang Wenjun, Chen Zhenzhi)

《大登殿》 张火丁 李崇善 赵葆秀 常秋月 The Great Enthronement (Zhang Huoding, Li Chongshan, Zhao Baoxiu, Chang Qiuyue)“.

Thank you Fern, that was a *nice* birthday present in advance!

To close this off, I like to replay a video Fern posted herself before on her own great blog here. It’s a really nice performance, and my copy of the video is bigger, has better sound, and comes from CCTV11 rather than CCTV4, so from a different source. It also identifies a time frame, 2006, which was very good Huoding vintage from what we’ve seen here.

Click here to download the video (28 MB in size, .rmvb format)

Enjoy!

Hello,

I’ve replaced the spliced versions of the HD “Female Warriors of the Yang Family” I had posted earlier with the bigger original files. They’re very large files, but they’re also Among Our Top Picks.

Fern just talked about a symphonic version of this opera, which  had its debut recently (a video of that is on my Want List).

Don’t miss it!

The new files are here.

(originally published on: Jul 24, 2011)(Updated 2013-04-23 to fix broken links)

Hello,

Fern of megapoxy.net sent me the links to the story and a very nice video of Li Jie singing from the opera “Lian Jinfeng” (谦锦枫), as well as some biographical background on this actress. Very sweet, Fern, thank you!

Li Jie (李洁) is a “first-class” Mei school actress born in 1972. Starting in 1981, she was taught by famous Mei school artist Chen Zhengwei (陈正薇) at the Jiangsu Theater Academy. After her graduation in 1988, she joined the Jiansu Beijing Opera Theater.

In 1998, the Central Propaganda Department and Ministry of Culture picked her to be sent to The National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts for postgraduate studies. There she had veteran teachers like Yang Qiuling 杨秋玲, Li Jinhong 李金鸿, and from 2006 she became the student of noted Beijing opera actress Du Jinfang 杜近芳. Li Jie got Plum Blossom Award in 2001 (along with Li Hongtu, Li Peihong, Dong Yuanyuan, and Geng Qiaoyun).

The story (found here):

At the time of the Empress Wu Tang dynasty, Tang Ao who has failed the civil examination (allowing him to enter the service of the imperial court), meets Lin Zhiyang and Duo Jiugong and they leave for the “The Kingdom of Noblemen”. At the same time, the filial daughter named Lian Jinfeng, a very good swimmer, is looking for sea cucumber in the sea as a remedy for her mother’s illness.

One day, she is trapped with mistake by a couple of fishermen, among them Wu from Qingqiu state, and attached to the head of boat in order to sell her. As soon as he sees this, Tang Ao paid for her ransoms and she went to sea again to get sea cucumbers. She in return finds the Qidu pearl to present him.

This video is a half hour live performance. The first half consists of Li Jie singing and dancing solo, followed by some light acrobatics by clowns representing pearl fishermen. It wraps up with a sword dance. All in all, a very nice production featuring pleasing-looking colors and sets as well as interesting camera work. “The Big Blue” Beijing opera style.

Click here to download the video. File format is .MP4 and can be viewed in VLC. File size is 110 MB.

The video was downloaded and re-assembled from separate sections using Vidown from this link.

(originally published on: Jun 26, 2011)(Updated 2013-04-23 to fix broken links)

Hello again,

Final day of a long rainy weekend of file backups.

I was feeling a little guilty about saying that Wang Rongrong was a bit shrill in the previous post (update note: heresy!), so here she is in top vocal shape in a complete opera. The original title of “Do not sacrifice River Palace” is 别宫祭江 and I have an additional reference as “Do Gong Ji Jiang“. (added 2011-06-27) Fern suggested instead the title “Leaving the palace to offer sacrifice at the river” which makes a lot more sense.

Fern, who is indeed a learned scholar, researched and forwarded the following storyline for this opera:

Sun Shangxiang’s Sacrifice (Bie Gong Ji Jiang) – Sun Shangxiang, wife of King Liu Bei of Shu who ruled during the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280 AD), is forbidden to return to her husband by her brother, who is the king of Wu. She decides to take her own life when she hears the news that her husband has died in a fierce battle between the two kingdoms. She comes to the riverbank of the Yangtze and prays to her dead husband before jumping into the water.

Wang Rongrong is in excellent voice here, crystal clear with a very pleasant tone, clearly displaying why she is a “first class” Beijing Opera star. At 24:14 she holds a note for a full 10 seconds. Bravo!!! I shall never doubt you again!

Additional players are credited as Zhao Baoxiu (赵葆秀), Han Juming, Liu Mingzhe (刘明哲), and Song Haoyu (宋昊宇).

Click here to download the video. The file format is MP4 with great sound and picture and can be viewed with VLC. File size is 613 MB.

Lots of nice costumes in this one. Enjoy!

(originally published on: Jun 25, 2011)

Here is a complete two hour concert filmed at the Shanghai Tianchan Yifu Theater.

This is yet another file found by my long rainy weekend computer backup exercise. The following song list by Fern of megapoxy.net, who kindly helped me sort out the performers, and in absolute overnight record time too! I am humbled.

This is a very interesting concert as it uses a full western orchestra along with the traditional Chinese instruments. It’s quite a mix bag, as it features the best known Beijing Opera performers like Li Shengsu, Yu Kuizhi, Wang Rongrong and Meng Guanglu along with some newer faces.

Here is Fern in italics, with me jumping in once in a while.

1.空城计 王珮瑜 Kong Cheng Ji (Empty City Strategy) – by the cross-dressing Wang Peiyu, famous Yu school female laosheng.
She just got her first Plum Blossom and I’m really happy about it.

(Bertrand) She had me fooled.

2.贵妃醉酒 史依弘 Guifei Zuijiu (The Drunken Concubine) – by Shi Yihong
(Bertrand) We just posted the incredible “Yangmen” with this performer.

3.打严嵩 裴永杰 Da Yan Song (Beating Yan Song) – by Pei Yongjie
Pei Yongjie, Plum winner (2001) Qi school laosheng, hongsheng (red face), head of Jilin Beijing Opera Theatre.

4.龙凤呈祥 李佩红 Long Feng Cheng Xiang (The Auspicious Dragon & Phoenix) – by Li Peihong
Li Peihong, daoma, huashan of Tianjin Youth Beijing Opera Troupe also got the Plum Blossom in 2001.
Here’s another song with her from the 2011 New Year show.

5.黑旋风李逵 安平 Hei Xuanfeng Li Kui (Li Kui, The Black Whirlwind) – by An Ping
An Ping, first-class hualian of Shanghai Beijing Opera Theatre, got his first Plum Blossom this month and I’m really happy about this, too.
A 2011 New Year’s video with him, singing excerpt from The Zhao Orphan here.
(Bertrand) Fern’s not the only one to really like An Ping, there are several noticeable roars of approval from the audience during this performer’s aria.

6.状元媒 王蓉蓉 Zhuangyuan Mei (Top Scholar as Matchmaker) – by Wang Rongrong (who needs no introduction)

7.大唐贵妃 李军 Da Tang Guifei (Imperial Concubine of the Tang Dynasty) -by Li Jun
Li Jun, Yang school laosheng – his civil hairstyle is always leaving me stunned…
Here singing Wujia Po with Shi Yihong:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hR8sUzSbYs
Excerpt from Ji Gu Ma Cao (Beating the Drum to Abuse Cao Cao):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHfu7s6B-wg
Chen Shaoyun, An Ping and Li Jun all play a role in this opera:
http://megapoxy.net/wordpress/?p=1113

(Bertrand) This is the part of the concert that for me is like a very lengthy drum solo during a rock show — “It’s time to get some snacks.”

8.打龙袍 赵葆秀 Da Long Pao (Beating the Emperor’s Robe) – Zhao Baoxiu

(Bertrand jumping in again) Thank goodness someone to wake us up after Li Jun. Thank you, Zhao Baoxiu!

9.乌盆记 张克 Wu Pen Ji (Story of Black Basin) – Zhang Ke

(Bertrand ) A pleasing performer indeed.

10.西施 李胜素 Xi Shi – by Li Shengsu

(Bertrand) What a gorgeous gown! Have you ever seen anything so marvellous? No doubt this is from a Chinese designer, too. And Li Shengsu never wears a gown twice.

11.探阴山 孟广禄 Tan Yinshan (Visiting Yin Mountain) – Meng Guanglu
I read the story to this opera previously, and finally the penny dropped that Zha Pan Guan (Beheading the Underworld Judge) you posted here:
http://operabeijing.com/?p=597 is based on this Qiu school classic with a few minor changes.

In Meng Guanglu’s words, who plays Bao Zheng in the new show, it’s “old thing with new taste”. This role is extremely hard, requires great singing skills. When Qiu Shengrong was singing this role, his fans were listening as if they were on drugs.

I wrote a summary earlier, here it is, maybe you want to add it:

The story is set during Song Renzong’s reign. At a cheerful Lantern festival a young woman, Liu Jinchan, is separated from her family in the crowd. Walking home alone, she encounters a scoundrel, Li Bao, who tries to rape her but fails. In the end he strangles the girl to death. To cover his tra cks, Li Bao moves the corpse to Yan Chasan’s doorway to frame him. The case isn’t investigated properly, Yan Chasan gets arrested and sentenced to death. He files an appeal to Bao Zheng, complaining about the injustice.

Because the circumstances of Liu Jinchan’s death are unclear, Bao Zheng descends into the underworld to ask the underworld judge, Pan Guan, to check the case in the register of life and death. Pan Guan’s book of death clearly indicates that the rapist and murderer was Yan Chasan.

Bao Zheng starts his own private investigation, going to the Yin Mountains to ask Liu Jinchan’s ghost about the truth. The ghost tells him that the real culprit was Li Bao, that Li Bao’s maternal uncle is Pan Guan and the corrupt judge altered the register of life and death without authority!

Bao Zheng gets furious about the fraud and orders Pan Guan to correct the book. Pan Guan doesn’t admit his fault, finally Bao Zheng gets angry and beheads him. Returning to the world of the living, he releases Yan Chasan and beheads Li Bao too.

(Bertrand) Lots of Meng Guanglu fans in this audience!

12.玉堂春 夏慧华 Yu Tangchun – Xia Huihua
Xia Huihua, first class Mei school qingyi from Shanghai, born in 1944.

(Bertrand) She has a good voice, too.

13.文天祥 陈少云 Wen Tianxiang – Chen Shaoyun
Five stars! Not enough applause!!!

(Bertrand) Fern was not pleased at all with the audience’s reaction to this performance here.

Southern opera, excerpt from one of Zhou Xinfang’s patriotic plays set during the Japanese invasion.
http://megapoxy.net/wordpress/?p=2640

14.大登殿 李炳淑 Da Deng Dian (The Great Enthronement) – Li Bingshu
Same excerpt you just posted w/ Li Shengsu, great stuff for making comparisons.
Interesting about Li Bingshu is she’s singing in Mei style and also in Zhang
style simultaneously. Two of her teachers were Yan Huizhu and Wei Lianfang, both direct disciples of Mei Lanfang. Here’s a great photo of the latter w/ Mei Lanfang:
http://a0.att.hudong.com/10/65/01300000222260121952651003416.jpg

(Bertrand) She’s a dead ringer for my Hungarian mother. Mom! Is that you?!?

15.上天台 于魁智 Shangtian Tai (Ascending the Heavenly Altar) – Yu Kuizhi
Great aria to show off vocal skills. What to add? Nice tie.

(Bertrand) Fern and I keep disagreeing on Yu’s neckties. This one I think would have been better a uniform blue rather than with a blue pattern. But both of us agree about Yu Kuizhi: his singing is finer than fine. I myself think he is the best at what he does.

16.凤还巢 李尤婉云 Feng Huan Chao (Phoenix Returning to the Nest) – Li Youwanyun
(not really sure how to pinyin this name…)
She’s an amateur actress from Hong Kong.

17.坐宫 于魁智/李尤婉云 Zuo Gong (Sitting in the Palace) – Li Youwanyun, Yu Kuizhi
A photo of this performance:
http://baike.baidu.com/image/8bc3a7018d5ade59728da502 Mr. Yu is looking very
solemn on this picture.

18.卧龙吊孝 言兴朋 Wolong Diaoxiao (Zhuge Liang’s Condolence Visit at Chai Sang’s Funeral) – by Yan Xingpeng
Yan Xingpeng’s grandfather, Yan Jupeng founded Yan school; his father, Yan
Shaopeng is also a Yan school laosheng and for a change, his mother, Zhang
Shaolou too. Bearded family.
He got Plum Blossom in 1990, same session as Yu Kuizhi.

(Bertrand) Very nice orchestra intro here.

19.霸王别姬 李胜素 Bawang Bie Ji (Farewell My Concubine) – by Li Shengsu
Mei Baojiu is surely proud of his disciple.

Thank you so much, Fern!

As usual, here are my own quick random notes:

This is such a pleasant-sounding concert, a real crowd pleaser on all counts.

Wang Rongrong is lovely but I found her singing a bit more shrill than usual. Is this her usual repertoire or an off night? I’m not sure.

I’m still amazed by Li Shengsu’s gown.

Click here to download the video. File format is .RMVB, viewable in VLC. File size is 449 MB.

(update 2011-08 here are the original comments for this post)

3 Comments »

1. So your mother has a secret life as Beijing opera actress? Wang Peiyu fooled me for weeks. I watched the complete opera she’s singing this excerpt from and I thought her voice is different because she’s a very young boy. I even was showing my new finding to my fiance, telling him, “Look, this boy should be very young but he’s very good!” And this is her off-stage style too, I’ve seen photos of her while recording in studio and she was wearing men’s jeans and tartan patterned shirt.
   I realized she’s female only when I read her profile. ><If you don’t like this necktie of Yu Kuizhi, just wait until I post the old video I found, he’s wearing a terrible oh-so-80s suit.
   Poor man, I’m always ranting about his outfits, but really what else to criticise? His voice surely not.Wang Rongrong is frequently singing The Top Scholar, besides Riverside Pavilion, Romance of West Chamber and Meeting by Poetry, as typical Zhang school play.Li Shengsu never wears a gown twice? Now I HAVE TO find two performances with the same gown! ;P

   Comment by Fern — June 26, 2011 @ 1:32 am

2. My Mom has a much stronger voice!Comment by bertrand — June 26, 2011 @ 9:03 am
3. I lost a friendly bet with Fern, Li Shengsu wore that gown again in this amateur video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7n2rtHvckAComment by Bertrand — July 26, 2011 @ 8:38 am

(originally published on: Jun 25, 2011)(Updated 2013-04-23 to fix broken links)

You’ve heard of Celine Dion not talking for two days before a performance to rest her voice? Here’s Zhang Huoding doing her one better: resting her voice during a performance!

A while ago, Fern at megapoxy.net posted a video of Zhang Huoding and her troupe lip-syncing to a 1956 recording by Cheng Yanqiu, Xiao Cuihua, Li Danlin and others, ostensibly to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the master’s death. Cheng Yanqiu is one of the most important historical performers of Beijing Opera of the 20th century, and his personal style has become a “school” in China, of which Zhang Huoding is part of.

The problem of course is that little audio-visual documents remain of full operas by the master, so the idea here was to provide such a document as well as a tribute at the same time by a foremost Beijing Opera artist. It’s a novel idea, sort of like asking Renée Fleming to lip-synch Nellie Melba.

After that posting, Fern told me there were several of these re-enactments floating around the net. Here is another one, rediscovered in my files during a long rainy weekend of file backups, with Zhang Huoding lip synching over the opera “The Unicorn Purse” sung by Cheng Yanqiu. This is particularly interesting because Zhang Huoding has made that play her own. Newer Beijing Opera performers now imitate Zhang Huoding singing the Unicorn Purse! It is therefore interesting to listen and compare the past master with the new.

WARNING! The sound of this video is “voluntarily” bad during the performance, likely from a magnetic tape recording dating to the 1940s or 1950s. The sound of the video itself is quite good, as you can tell from the introduction and a segment around an hour or so where the tape runs out — likely missing — and the actors actually keep going themselves before the second reel begins.

All in all, a fascinating if not necessarily essential document.

Click here to download the video. File format is .RMVB and can be viewed using VLC. File size is 625 MB.

Enjoy!

(originally published on: Jun 24, 2011)(Updated 2013-04-23 to fix broken links)

I was hoping to get my video collection in order by doing this web site… Truth is, I am constantly double-checking for duplicates and better versions of something I had before. Today is the first day of a long rainy weekend, so I was making backups and comparing file sizes on my external hard drives.

I found this very nice 4 minute clip of Li Shengsu, which is from the same show as this other clip.

This is from the same period when this foremost Beijing Opera star released her box set of CDs. It occurs to me that this box set, despite containing 6 CDs, must not have been a very long to record — here she shrugs off an aria with what seems to be absolutely no effort at all, easily reaching high notes a human being was perhaps never meant to reach!

I like Li Shengsu, and so does her audience here. Watching her sing is like eating from a box of fine chocolates.

Click here to download the video. File format is .RMVB, which can be viewed with VLC. File size is 29 MB.

Enjoy!