UNSUK CHIN
Three Concertos
Cello Concerto (2008/2009, rev. 2013) Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
Su for sheng and orchestra (2009) Conductor : Myung-Whun Chung
Silk Baroque
HOLLAND BAROQUE, WU WEI (Artist)
Wu Man & Wu Wei
Distant Mountains (Live)
Dreyer Gaido: DGCD21129 - CD or download | Presto Music
ROLF WALLIN
Five Seasons
Whirld | Stride | Spirit
Wu Wei, Sheng
Eldbjörg Hemsing, Violine
Ida Nielsen, elektrische Bassgitarre
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra
Andris Poga, Dirigent
Release Date:1st Mar 2024
Catalogue No:ODE1429-2
Label:Ondine
Length:75 minutes
This album of works by prominent Norwegian composer Rolf Wallin (b. 1957), one of Scandinavia's leading composers, performed by the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra of Norway under Andris Poga, features new works with three outstanding soloists: Wallin's Concerto for the traditional Chinese instrument sheng features award-winning artist Wu Wei, and his Violin Concerto features rising violin star Eldbjørg Hemsing. Wallin's Spirit for electric bass guitar and orchestra was written for and performed by Ida Nielsen, considered one of the world's most remarkable bassists and best known as Prince's bassist.
Silk Jazz
Wu Wei | Ingolf Burkhardt | Florian Weber
With Wu Wei, Ingolf Burkhardt and Florian Weber, three outstanding musical personalities have come together in the Silk Jazz trio.
The Sheng (the Chinese mouth-blown organ) is one of the oldest instruments in Chinese music. Together with the trumpeter Ingolf Burkhardt and the pianist Florian Weber Wu Wei, this new recording shows that this 3000 year old instrument still has a place in the music of today. The three musicians invite you on a musical road trip; for their means of transport the trio have chosen the art of improvisation, of listening and then diving into the quite diverse musical ideas of their colleagues; in other words, the very essence of jazz.
Their music is created freely - no agreements, no notes, just pure listening and interaction. Over 90 tracks of freely improvised music were created during the recording session. With Into the unknown, the trio succeeds in developing a musical narrative from the sheer endless material that conveys the naturalness of playing together as well as the adventurousness and enthusiasm to search for and find new colors.
Time travels
From Siddhartha, Marco Polo to Bach & Byrd
Wu Wei, Sheng
Christoph Enzel, Saxophone
Reinhold Friedrich, Trumpet
SOUTHWEST GERMAN PHILHARMONIC KONSTANZ
Gabriel Venzago, Chief Conductor
It is part of the magic of music to create a vital "now!" Therefore, in these TIME JOURNEYS, past eras can be brought into the 21st century: Exactly 400 years ago, William Byrd (1543-1623) died and is brought back to life here with THE BELLS. BRANDENBURGER REMIXED was composed as a tribute to the 300th anniversary of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2. The saxophone concerto SIDDHARTA was composed to mark the 100th anniversary of Hermann Hesse's novel, which has garnered millions of acclaim, in which Hesse described a Buddha who takes us back some 2,500 years into the past. Finally, SILK ROAD refers to Marco Polo, who died exactly 700 years ago in January 1324 in his birthplace of Venice. So let's bring all these places and times back with TIME TRAVELS to experience them all over again.
WU Wei Trio
The ultimate timbre of the sheng – WU Wei trio
Far Apart, Can be Combined Well
China Recording Guangzhou
Released: 2025
Wu Wei, Sheng
Janne Saksala, Double bass
Martin Stegner, Viola
Martin Sauer, Producer
Things often seem very far apart - and yet they can be combined well, as the extraordinary trio consisting of two members of the Berlin Philharmonic, Martin Stegner and Janne Saksala, and the Chinese musician Wu Wei proves. The instrumentation alone is unusual, as the viola and double bass from Western orchestral music come together with the Chinese mouth organ, Sheng. For their joint work, the three musicians draw on the experience they have already gained as individual artists in a wide variety of styles outside of classical music. As a trio, the musicians dare to experiment with combining works of European art music with the Far Eastern sounds of the Chinese mouth organ and open new worlds of listening by transcending genre boundaries. To this end, the musicians have selected works that fuse Western orchestral instruments with the sounds of the Chinese Sheng, which are unusual to European ears. Whether early music such as Bach's Goldberg Variations and Telemann's Trio Sonata, a late-romantic song by Gabriel Fauré or their own free improvisations on the Chinese composition Dragon Dance, overcoming boundaries at all levels and focusing on the joy of making music and experimenting together are what characterize these three and become audible.
--Martin Stegner
Mozart & Beethoven meeting yin & yang
Wergo: WER51252 - CD or download | Presto Music
Composer: Schneider, Enjott
Jena Philharmonic Orchestra, Simon Gaudenz
Wu Wei (sheng) Juliana Koch (oboe)
Release Date:4th Oct 2019
Length: 79 minutes
In his latest portrait album, Munich composer Enjott Schneider once again reveals new and fascinating interrelationships between classical and contemporary music, and between the Western and Far Eastern traditions. Two of the works deal directly with two of the central figures in the history of Western music: Raptus. Die Freiheit des Beethoven investigates the meaning of freedom and the contrasts between the heroic style of Beethoven’s youth and the cryptic works of his later years. Mozart Ascending for Oboe and Orchestra reflects on Mozart’s unfinished Oboe Concerto KV 293 and the otherworldly nature of the Salzburg master’s genius. Far Eastern influences dominate in Yin & Yang. Concerto for Sheng and Orchestra. The soloist in this concerto for the traditional Chinese instrument is Wu Wei, a virtuoso artist who has introduced the Sheng to European audiences and to whom the work is dedicated. Innenwelten – Innerworlds presents eight symphonic interludes from Bahnwärter Thiel, Schneider’s opera based on the tragic novella by Gerhart Hauptmann. The opera’s central figure is hypersensitive and filled with inner visions, taciturn and not given to overt expression.
China Meets Europe
Composer:Schneider, Enjott Booklet writer:Schneider, Enjott
Artist:Kasarova, Vesselina Orchestra / Ensemble: Tonkünstler Orchestra,
Artist:Wu, Wei Conductor:Li, Xincao
The mysterious culture of China fascinates Enjott Schneider ever since. Their many thousand years of tradition are as much a part of European history as the size of the country, the complex wealth of language and the diversity of science, philosophy and spirituality: the harmony model of yin-yang thinking, the analogies of the five-element doctrine Psychological zodiac of the Chinese year, Confucianism, Taoism, natural philosophy and traditional medicine - all these have become important building blocks in Schneider's concept of life. Read more »
The Sheng Lover
A musical tale of Claude Clement
Karin Viard - Narrator
Claude Clément - Author
Amélie Callot - Illustrator
Wu Wei - Performer
A powerful emperor of China is looking for a wife capable of assuring him a descent. One day, as he journeys through his rice paddies, he hears a Sublime Voice: the melody played in sheng by a modest peasant. Disgusted, he wants to take the girl to wife. But it is already promised to another ... and the instrument is not so easy to subdue.
This tale is the third volume of a collection whose musical instruments are heroes. Recurring character in the life of the musicians, "The Little Turner of Pages" will lead the young reader to enter the world of the imaginary in order to discover the multiple facets of the instrument.
Abundantly illustrated, the book also includes documentary pages devoted to the various shengs heard in the tale. The music of this story was entirely composed by Wu Wei - international sheng master.
Cage: Two3 for shō and conches
Guus Janssen – Violin Concerto / Ballroom Rithmix / Four Songs / Vrije Tijd / De Buitenbocht
DVD, DVD-Video
Kammermusik "Licht"
Artist: Vivi Vassileva, Maruan Sakas, Pi-Hsien Chen, Wu Wei, Oliver Klenk, Wen-Sinn Yang, Stefan Hussong
Label: Kreuzberg , DDD, 2016
All Rivers Flow Together
Artists: Gunter Kennel and Wu Wei E
Location: St. Anthony Großräschen
- Vivaldi, Antonio - Sonata in G minor
- Wu Wei / Gunter Kennel - Improvisation on "Christ is first"
- Alain, Jehan - Trois Mouvements
- Satie, Erik - Gnossienne No. 3
- Bach, Johann Sebastian - Sonata in G minor BWV 1020
- Kennel, Gunter - Toccata and Fuge on "Well thank you all and bring honor"
- Bach, Johann Sebastian - I call to You, Lord, Jesus Christ BWV 639 Read more »
OVERTONES
The breath of harmonics
WU Wei | WANG Li
Wang Li and Wu Wei play the kouxian (Jew’s harp) and the sheng respectively. An astonishing musical encounter between two immense artists of the oriental tradition, one living in Paris, the other in Berlin, who focus their skills on a different breath and time, on harmonics that grip the listener with telluric force. With its inspired use of the Chinese mouth organ and a multitude of instruments including the musicians’ own bodies, this is music that deserves to be experienced – the experience of a sound that is quite simply indescribable! Read more »
Utopian Trace – Touch of Harmony
Wu Wei Sheng
"In 1994 I played for the first time with German musicians at the Peking Jazz Festival. This was an overwhelming experience for me. In Chinese music improvisation has a completely different meaning. One has a fixed melody, which gives a certain freedom of articulation. European improvisation is quite different. I did not think of anything, just improvised and was surprised that music was created as well. By improvisation I could open up to me a completely different terrain. " - Wu Wei
THE TRIPS OF MARCO POLO.
Performers: Eva Mattes, Wu Wei, Lautten Compagney
..Music and Marco Polo's impressions from the Venetian homeland tell stories about and about a China of the 13th century...Eva Mattes meets the tone of amazement. Wu Wei plays the Sheng, the Chinese mouth organ like hardly another. Zig compositions have been specially created for him. He improvises passionately and virtuoso for the "journeys of the Marco Polo". Also the Erhu, the Chinese knee-jerk, immediately imparted Asian sounds, fragrances and discoveries. Read more »
On the Trail of Marco Polo
A musical audio book in the footsteps of Marco Polo.
Music of Phalese, Caccini, Rossi, Merula, Monteverdi and Chinese Traditionals
+ Karl Valentin: Chinese Couplet
Artist: Wu Wei (Sheng), Lautten Compagney, Wolfgang Katschner
Marco Polo (1254-1324) is known for his adventurous journeys to China and Mongolia, which he recorded in colorful and extravagant travel reports for posterity. The actress Eva Mattes follows the footsteps of the famous Venetian, whose name still strikes a cultural bridge between Europe and China. To match this, the composer Compagney and Wu Wei, the best-known virtuoso on the Chinese mouth organ Sheng, present a fascinating combination of traditional Chinese sounds and European baroque music. ..
Iceberg
Pascal Contet - Wu Wei
Released on September 28, 2009 by Signature Radio France
Main artist : Pascal Contet
Genre : Classical
Magic Mask
Year: 2003
Genre: misc
Disc-ID: misc / 6d0db608
- Magie mask
- Big Band auf den Mond
- The great wall
- Say goodby
- Sunshine
- Wu Wei
- Stille II
- Es war in Grassland
- Calling
Erratic Wish Machine (feat. Wu Wei)
Stefan Schultze Large Ensemble
Schultze goes to China. He returned from the Middle Kingdom, where he was an artist-in-residence in Shanghai, where the composer and pianist Stefan Schultze presented himself with a program for his prominent large ensemble and avant-garde musician Wu Wei The Chinese mouth organ Sheng. Read more »
Rhythm & Dance - Waldbuhne 2000 / Nagano, Berlin Philharmonic
Nagano / Berlin Philharmonic
Release Date: 11/20/2001
Composer: Leonard Bernstein, Maurice Ravel, Jean-Pascal Beintus, Zhao Jiping, ...
Performer: Wu Wei, Wang Hong, Momo Kodama, Mari Kodama, Susan Graham
Conductor: Kent Nagano
Orchestra/Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
Read more »
Christian Utz – Transformed: Music For Asian And Western Instruments 2001-2006
Silence Is the Only Music
In the combination of East Asian and Western sound worlds, Klaus Hinrich Stahmer found a new tone language, permeated by the depth and symbolic power of far-eastern music, which nevertheless never questioned its origin from the European cultural circle. Renowned artists from the Far East meet in their scores on virtuosos of the New-Music-scene and let the typical composers of each other's culture stand out in the composted interplay. Koto and Shakuhachi, Sheng and Guzheng as well as Kayagum and Changgu unfold a delicate and at the same time disconcerting poetry with the accordion, flute and violoncello, the listener experiencing something of the charms and richness of Eastern traditions.
Asian Art Ensemble (CD 1)
Shopping In Shanghai
Wu Wei & Moritz
Track list:
1. Dragon Dance 5:57
2. Silk Road 8:52
3. The great Wall 7:37
4. Wu Wei 7:53
5. Sunshine 4:57
6. Temple at Midnight 9:47
7. Sweet Goodbye 5:57
8. Shopping in Shanghai
Bach meets Asia
A Play on John Sebastian Bach
Luxembourg Sinfonietta
World Premiere Recordings
New Works for Solo-Sheng and Orchestra
International Composition Prize 2008
Soloist: Wu Wei (sheng), Conductor: Marcel Wengler
The CD No 408 of the Luxembourg Sinfonietta contains new works for solo-sheng and orchestra by all six finalists of the International Composition Prize Luxembourg 2008. The Luxembourg Sinfonietta presents with this live recorded disc the works by Huang Ruo, Lan-chee Lam, Kee Yong Chong, Xiaozhong Yang, Lok-yin Tang and Stephen Yip. Read more »
cageAnimations
"cageAnimations is the current status of my many years of studying the works and ideas of the composer John Cage, with the personal encounters with Cage having a strong influence and lasting impression. John Cage often uses graphical notation or scores based solely on text, and his work therefore leaves ample room for the interpreter’s creativity, almost making him/her a composer in his/her own right. cageAnimations is the product of this inspiration and animation, at the same time taking its liberties up to the point of presenting my compositions." - Sigune von Osten
Lightscape
Total Music Meeting 2002 - Audiology II
11 Groups Live In Berlin
Released: 2003
Genre: Jazz
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
The Noo Ones – The Noo Ones
The NOO Ones started as a project of the Music:World Series organization (http://www.musicworldseries.nl/) in the 2011/2012 season.The group was very well received by both audiences and critics and has decided to continue its musical journey in 2013/2014. The new program will be called “Higgledy Piggledy (Schots en Scheef)”.
The band consists of five musicians from very different musical backgrouds living in the Netherlands:
from India: Satyakam Mohkamsing – violin
from Surinam: Andro Biswane – guitar
from Scotland: Alan Purves – percussion
from Rotterdam: Klaas Hekman – bass saxophone, flute, piccolo, shakuhachi
from Amsterdam: Joost Buis – trombone
They invited for this new program “Higgledy Piggledy (Schots en Scheef)” the world famous Sheng soloist WU Wei.
He is an avant-garde Sheng soloist. He has helped to develop this four thousand’s years old ancient instrument into an innovative force in contemporary music, through the creation of new techniques, expanding the new repertories and integrating different styles and genres. Read more »
