Malaysian pianist gives Chinese folk songs a modern twist

Four years after her A Dream of Red Mansions piano concerto, renowned Malaysian pianist Claudia Yang recently debuted her latest work, Twelve Chinese Folk Fantasies for Piano and Orchestra, a series of modern adaptations and compositions of Chinese folk songs.

Using piano pieces and orchestral accompaniments, Yang, along with Russian composer Artem Vasilliev, reinterpreted nine Chinese songs including Caiyun Zhuiyue (Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon), Moli Hua, (Jasmine Flower) and Zai Na Yaoyuan De Difang (In that Place Wholly Faraway).

"What I have adapted or written has a sense of modernity," Yang says about the 12 folk fantasies.