This book will appeal to a general readership interested in China - the same readers who made "Wild Swans" a bestseller. Rhapsody in Red is a far better read and benefits from considerably more research with primary source material in China over the past decade and it covers classical music in general over all the history of East-West interaction. Pianos focuses narrowly on the political aspects of the Cultural Revolution and subsequent re-opening. The only other significant books touching on this field are Pianos and Politics: Middle Class Ambitions and The Struggle Over Western Music by Richard Kurt Kraus (1989), and Barbara Mittler's Dangerous Tunes - The Politics of Chinese Music. The authors capture the events with the voice of an insider and the perspective of a Westerner, presenting new information, original research and insights into a topic that has barely been broached elsewhere. Yet, despite the importance of classical music in China - and of Chinese classical musicians and composers to the world - next to nothing has been written on this fascinating subject. Millions of Chinese children take piano and violin lessons every week. Since then, classical music has woven its way into the lives of ordinary Chinese people. Chinas oldest orchestra was founded in 1879, two years before the Boston Symphony. Rhapsody in Red is a history of classical music in China that revolves around a common theme: how Western classical music entered China, and how it became Chinese. This lucidly written account traces the biographies of the bold visionaries who carried out this musical merger. Western classical music has become as Chinese as Peking Opera, and it has woven its way into the hearts and lives of ordinary Chinese people.
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