Before the invention of pictogram characters, Chinese in ancient times just used simple instinctive sounds to express emotion. These sounds developed into tunes which were composed about experiences in everyday life, and these in turn became catchy melodies which were passed down through generations. This is what we now call a “song”. Then, after sophisticated Chinese characters emerged, people began to incorporate lyrics into the tunes. A typical song had two parts; one is the melody - to express emotion - the other is the lyric, which records events.

The Book of Songs (Shi Jing) is the oldest compilation of poetry in Chinese history (circa 1046-771 B.C.). It comprised of three sections: “stylistic”(feng), “classic”(ya) and “ritualistic”(song), all of which could be performed vocally together with instruments. The book is considered to be the very foundation of Chinese literature and art. Track 1 "Crying Ospreys" on this SACD is taken from "The Book of Songs".

The Songs of Chu (Chu Ci), emerged in the south towards the end of Warring States period (circa 221 B.C.), this new form of popular poetry featured irregular stanzas with six or seven characters. Later during the Han dynasty (circa 112 B.C.), the royal government “Music Bureau” (Yue Fu) was established for collecting and cataloguing folk songs. These songs were often written about daily life using simple language, and as a result became popular even among ordinary people.

Many consider the Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.) to be the prime period of Chinese poetry. Various forms of poetic styles appeared, each had it’s “maestro”. Li Bai was known for his “romanticism” - with much colourful and emotional expression. Du Fu inherited the traditional essence of “realism” combined with deep melancholy. Together they are hailed as truly inspirational “Literati” who influenced centuries of Chinese poetry.The lyrics of Track 4 on this SACD are written by Li Bai.

In the Song dynasty (960-1279 A.D.), the dominant poetic form, “Ci”, had two mainstream styles; the “graceful & subtle” (wan yue), and the “epic & heroic” (hao feng). The former was characterised by elegance and expression of inner feelings, the latter emphasised magnificence and social themes. Li Qingzhao (1084-1151 A.D.) was the most famous female Chinese writer and poet of the Song dynasty.

On this SACD "Epics Of Love" Song Zuying sings among others Li Qingzhao´s poem "A Twig Of Mume Blossoms" to the tune of "Yi Jian Mei" (Track 6). Look at the poem written in traditional Chinese in the typical 7/4-4 structure beside the poetess´ portrait.

The jade-like mat feels autumn’s cold, I change a coat
And ’mid the fading fragrance  /  Of lotus pink alone I boat.
Will wild returning geese bring letters through the cloud?
When they come, with moonbeams  /  My west chamber’s o’erflowed.
As water flows and flowers fall without leaving traces,
One and the same longing  /  O’erflows two lonely places.
I cannot get rid of this sorrow: kept apart
From my eyebrows,  /  It gnaws my heart.

Translation: Xu Yuanchong

A team of three - musicologist Hans-Jörg Maucksch, technical assistant Inés Breuer and Pauler himself - flew out for the sessions in September 2011 with the equipment, arriving in good time. For the main microphones they used a Decca Tree of three DPA 4041s and two Neumann TLM 50s as out-riggers.

Additional microphones for the string sections were Sennheiser MKH 800 Twins, chosen for the freedom to choose directivity later in the mix. With 120 orchestral musicians, seven soloists on traditional Chinese instruments, two choirs, a male vocalist, recitalists and Song Zuying they needed a wide selection of mics and they had models from Sennheiser, DPA, Sonodore, Schoeps, AEA, Josephson, and Microtech-Gefell.

The amount of support microphones would appear to be a bit big at first glance but it was impossible to predict beforehand, what importance should be given to the individual instruments / groups in the mix that the musical director Meng Yong would require.

The microphone for Song Zuying’s vocal performances was a Josephson C700A with two capsules (fig-8 and omni). It has the advantage of being able to vary the ambient and direct sound independently later in the mix. For mic preamps and A-D converters they used Stagetec Nexus and 48 channels were transported via MADI to a SADiE LRX2 recorder. The LRX2 is a highly professional and practically orientated recording system. Motor fader controllers gives you a genuine studio feeling. In between recording pauses the system can be used for editing purposes.

Certain quieter traditional instruments had to be moved from their placement in the orchestra and repositioned behind the conductor Yu Long for reasons of clarity. There was a problem with the separation between the choir and the orchestra and to this end they employed the Microtech-Gefell KEM 970, which has eight stacked capsules and acts like a line array. An opening angle of 30º on a vertical half-circle it uses LEDs for alignment and permitted a very precise positioning on the choir.

The Quad Cable from Schoeps utilizes two conductors, halves the capacity (shield / conductor) and makes nearly so many microphones sound better. For this reason, we have been using it for a long time, and as well as this, it is extremely durable and mechanically very strong. It is now newly available with Neutrik EMC connectors. These connectors/couplers have internal passive components, which are intended to increase the stability of the HF by almost 90%. The sound perception is quiet, producing a stable location imagery and has a clean harmonic structure.

The PS-Audio conditioners convert the primary AC power to DC, then again with a new 50Hz frequency to 220V thereby reducing harmonic distortion and DC component and eliminating high frequency. In Pauler’s famous Stockfisch studios they use separate PS-Audio conditioners for digital and analogue power.