# What are some notable composers from East Asia?



## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Hello all, I'm relatively new to classical music, so I'm not that knowledgeable. For me, only two composers spring to mind, Toru Takemitsu and Ryuichi Sakamoto. Is there any other composers that are distinguished from this region?

I'm looking for composers from the following counties:








Notable: worthy of attention or notice; remarkable.
Distinguished: successful, authoritative, and commanding great respect

Thank you and I'm looking forward to reading your post and discovering new composers!

*Edit*: If you are inclined to do so, can you also give me suggested works by the composer I should listen to first. Thank you!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Unsuk Chin (South Korea). Try one of her concertos (especially Su, for sheng and orchestra).


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Art Rock said:


> Unsuk Chin (South Korea). Try one of her concertos (especially Su, for sheng and orchestra).


Thank you! I will check out her work.


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

There are lots of composers from Japan notably Takemitsu and Mayazumi. Look for them via NAXOS, as they have a budget-line series on Japanese composers.

Chen Yi from China is a wonderful eclectic contemporary composer who draws on Chinese folk music, as well as, Chou Wen-Chung who is Chinese-American, and who Huang Ruo (American of Chinese heritage); all are excellent and innovative, though they avoid the very soothing and saccharine Chinese restaurant style fare that pleases Westerners (i.e. _Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto_ and _Yellow River Concerto_).

Unsuk Chin form South Korea is also very good. I don't have any of her music CD but have heard some on YouTube. At first she's a bit mystifying, but her music might grow on you given an even chance.

You can also give a listen to Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble that features many Asian composers (I saw Ma and his group one summer night at Tanglewood in beautiful western Massachusetts, not far from where Ma lives. There's also India's master of the sitar, Ravi Shankar, who did a lot of very fine East/West crossover material with the likes of such luminaries as Andre Previn, Zubin Mehta, Philip Glass, Yehudi Menuhin, and Jean-Pierre Rampal.

The realm of music in Asia is vast and my knowledge is superficial, so my recommendations can only be taken as coming from an American, a Westerner, who despite an encyclopedic knowledge of classical music, is still on the outside looking in.


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Coach G said:


> There are lots of composers from Japan notably Takemitsu and Mayazumi. Look for them via NAXOS, as they have a budget-line series on Japanese composers.
> 
> Chen Yi from China is a wonderful eclectic contemporary composer who draws on Chinese folk music, as well as, Chou Wen-Chung who is Chinese-American, and who Huang Ruo (American of Chinese heritage); all are excellent and innovative, though they avoid the very soothing and saccharine Chinese restaurant style fare that pleases Westerners (i.e. _Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto_ and _Yellow River Concerto_).
> 
> ...


Thank you, I will check out your recommendations. I have listened to Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble in the past and found it to be lovely. I will take a look at its catalogue to find out the other composers that I have sadly neglected when I listened to it in the past. I kind of jealous that you got to see him live, lucky you.

What works by Ravi Shankar do you recommend? I should probably add suggested works to the theard lead.

Once again thank you!


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

Conrad2 said:


> ...What works by Ravi Shankar do you recommend? I should probably add suggested works to the thread lead.
> 
> Once again thank you!


I'd start with the best part: the sessions that Ravi Shankar did with classical violinist, Yehudi Menuhin. Then I'd move on the _Sitar Concerto #1_ that he did with Andre Previn. Also, the album _Ravi Shankar in the Kremlin_ is outstanding where he joins forces with the Moscow Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, a group of Russian folk musicians.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Bright Sheng (Chinese: 盛宗亮 pinyin: Shèng Zōngliàng) is a Chinese-American composer (born in Shanghai) worth exploring.


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

My only 'Q' composer deserves a mention, I think: *Qigang Chen*.

He did the soundtrack for 'The Flowers of War' movie, but he's also written non-film music which is very attractive and listenable. I think he's very good, anyway, though I don't have a huge amount of his output in my collection.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

It's a C composer though.... Chen is the family name.


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## Bill Cooke (May 20, 2017)

Akira Ifukube - Japanese composer who is popularly known for his film work (notably, the original GODZILLA and many other Toho sci-fi epics) but also composed a number of interesting concert works. His works are heavily influenced by Japanese folk music.


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

Art Rock said:


> It's a C composer though.... Chen is the family name.


I catalogue my composers by first name. Mozart is filed under 'W', for example (well, the son is. The father can do as he pleases). And Beethoven is an 'L'.

I don't live in an Edwardian Public School, so referring to people by their family names seems a bit odd to me.

Britten and Elgar don't complain either way, obviously.

But: no, he's still a Q composer


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Fair enough - I'd forgotten about the way you catalogue them.


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## Guest002 (Feb 19, 2020)

Art Rock said:


> Fair enough - I'd forgotten about the way you catalogue them.


Well, in a digital age, there's no need to catalogue them any other way. The surname, firstname approach only ever made sense in a world of index cards. Once there's a technology that can find 'xyz' no matter where in a string it's embedded, the need for 'Librarian Indexing' disappeared, really.

Physical reality is a different matter, of course: you have physical LPs, cylinders, CDs, what have you: you do what you need to do!


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## adriesba (Dec 30, 2019)

Art Rock said:


> Bright Sheng (Chinese: 盛宗亮 pinyin: Shèng Zōngliàng) is a Chinese-American composer (born in Shanghai) worth exploring.


Yes! I really like his _Shanghai Overture_:


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

One composer I just discovered a couple weeks ago is Qin Wenchen. Only heard one disc so far, but I really liked these.

Liner notes here


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

The Unsuk Chin concertos disc on DG is excellent. Art Rock mentioned her. But for me, Takemitsu is the great master from the east. I can't get enough of his music. It's just beautiful, masterfully conceived, composed and orchestrated music.


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## calvinpv (Apr 20, 2015)

For Korean composers, two not mentioned so far are Isang Yun and Younghi Pagh-Paan. I don't know them well enough to give any recommendations, but their names pop up a lot in relation to contemporary music.

For Japanese music, I really like Dai Fujikura (though he now lives in London). Check out Sparking Orbit, prism spectra, ice, and his concertos like the bassoon concerto.

Takashi Yoshimatsu is another good one. Start with the symphonies and concertos.


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## Simon Moon (Oct 10, 2013)

I love what I've heard from Narong Prangcharoen from Thailand.













Art Rock said:


> Unsuk Chin (South Korea). Try one of her concertos (especially Su, for sheng and orchestra).


I just got a disk at my local brick and mortar store of her Violin Concerto (Rocana), and it's fantastic. Looking forward to getting more from her.


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

Art Rock said:


> It's a C composer though.... Chen is the family name.


In China the family name is written before the first name; so in your example Qigang is the family name and Chen the first name.

see also =>
https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100818033257AAepKNH


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## Andrew Kenneth (Feb 17, 2018)

Tan Dun has achieved some fame.

Here is a sample of his paper concerto =>






and his water concerto =>


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## pjang23 (Oct 8, 2009)

A beautiful work from Takashi Yoshimatsu:


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Andrew Kenneth said:


> In China the family name is written before the first name; so in your example Qigang is the family name and Chen the first name.
> 
> see also =>
> https://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100818033257AAepKNH


The official name is Chen Qigang, family name Chen. He westermized it later to Qigang Chen. See wikipedia. My wife is Chinese, I know what I'm talking about.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Tōru Takemitsu. He's widely recorded. I'd recommend starting with "From me flows what you call Time".

Unsuk Chin. IMO she's the real deal. Apart from the DG disc that includes three concertos (for sheng, piano and cello respectively), which has already been mentioned, I also wholeheartedly recommend the Analekta disc that includes Rocaná and her Violin Concerto.

Ge Gan-ru. I think he's very good at painting a picture in the audience's heads through the medium of sound. Try the Naxos disc that contains three of his string quartets, esp. No. 5 "The Fall of Baghdad".

Tan Dun.
His Concerto for Orchestra is available on a Naxos disc. Love it. It took inspiration from Marco Polo's travels. 

Qigang Chen. (BTW, his surname is Chen, as Art Rock has stated.)
His violin concerto "La Joie de la souffrance" is modern and lyrical, and is available on a DG disc called "GATEWAYS".

Gordon Chin.
I wholeheartedly recommend his Symphony No. 3 "Taiwan" and "Formosa Seasons", both available on Naxos. Despite being modern, his music is rather accessible.

Du Mingxin.
If you prefer something that is tuneful and romantic rather than modern, try his Violin Concerto and "Goddess of the River Luo", both on Naxos.

As for Ryuichi Sakamoto, whom the OP mentioned, I'm afraid I've never thought of him as a classical composer. His Electronic Pop music is awesome though.


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## Conrad2 (Jan 24, 2021)

Kiki said:


> As for Ryuichi Sakamoto, whom the OP mentioned, I'm afraid I've never thought of him as a classical composer. His Electronic Pop music is awesome though.


Perhaps I didn't characterize him correctly, as I thought his 1996 album and his later Avant grade music was classical music. He was a versatile musician and composer.


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## Kiki (Aug 15, 2018)

Conrad2 said:


> Perhaps I didn't characterize him correctly, as I thought his 1996 album and his later Avant grade music was classical music. He was a versatile musician and composer.


Sorry it was me who was unclear. You are right, Mr. Sakamoto is very versatile (He even sings!) People of my age listened to his electronic pops during our teens and it was a cool thing to do. That's the imprint of his image on my mind. Unfortunately I never really dug into his other genres, except a soundtrack or two.


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