DESCRIPTION:
Based on a Chinese folk tune from the Sichuan province, Sheng's "Hot Pepper" takes its name from the area's fondness for hot spices. But the heat was also in a scorching performance. The 10-minute score had the feel of a Bartók rhapsody, a seductive warm-up of the tune, with some fancy virtuosic ornamentation, and then a section of wildness... Sheng chose mellow gong-like resonances to provide an atmosphere that was excitingly pierced by Leonard, a focused, fiery player ... Jung is a centered player who can give the impression of being very still yet at all places at once along her long instrument. She was, here, spectacular. Mark Swed, Los Angele Times, 9/13/10

(The original YouTube posting experienced audio glitches, here corrected.)

RECORDED LIVE & UNEDITED. From the opening concert of Camerata Pacifica's 21st season. Catherine Leonard & Ji Hye Jung premiere "Hot Pepper" by Bright Sheng, commissioned by Bob Peirce as a birthday celebration for his wife, Sharon Harroun Peirce. Recorded September 16th, 2010 at Zipper Hall in the Colburn School, Los Angeles, CA.

http://www.cameratapacifica.org. Camerata Pacifica is a chamber music ensemble based in Santa Barbara that performs a monthly series of concerts in Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Marino, and Zipper Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. Founded by Adrian Spence in 1990, the group is composed of the finest performers of chamber music from around the world. The ensemble is distinctive for artistic excellence, an innovative approach to classical music and a repertoire that ranges from baroque to brand new, from familiar masterworks to works that have yet to become favorites.