“The China Sound”, le struggenti note del liuto cinese risuonano a Firenze
DOMENICA 07 OTTOBRE 2012, CELESTE ROTONDI.
"... Liu Fang ranges from ancient traditional music, popular music, and modern music, interpreting them all, as happened at the concert of limonaia Villa Strozzi, with masterly skill and delicacy, presenting several songs with unparalleled artistic intensity...."

"... After intermission China’s “Empress of Pipa,” Liu Fang, played three traditional Chinese pieces on the pipa, a sort of Chinese lute that produces a high-pitched, bell-like sound. The concluding march, “King Chu Doffs His Armor,” built especially well to an ecstatic climax. The speed with which Fang plucked her strings was often mesmerizing, but every note she played was crystal clear..." APRIL 26, 2012, Close Encounters with Music: Trade Winds, From China with Love, In the Spotlight, USA.

China's private music
By Sharon Smullen, The Berkshire Eagle / Berkshire Week.

"FORDE, NORWAY -- Sometimes you have to travel abroad to discover the best of Canada.
Liu Fang of Montreal delivered an emotionally intense, stunning performance last weekend at Norway's leading folk festival. While recognition continues to elude her in Toronto, she drew explosive applause at the Forde Folk Music Festival's opening gala, in the celebrated fjord-studded region of the country's west coast.
Without speaking a word, elegantly dressed in a sleeveless gown, Fang leaned into her signature instrument - the four-stringed Chinese pipa - alternately caressing it, stroking it and whacking it like a flamenco guitar. ..." - -John Goddard, Toronto Star, Jul 19, 2011 (see also here)

« J’ai entendu Liu Fang pour la première fois il y a quelques années en assistant à une soirée de musique chinoise à Montréal. Son sens de la musique m’a enchantée et sa virtuosité fait d’elle la "Paganini du pipa". Je l’ai immédiatement invitée à collaborer avec l’Orchestre de chambre de Montréal »,a déclaré Wanda Kaluzny... (Montreal express - culture)

press revews on the album "Along the Way" from international media.

Liu Fang is without a doubt one of the world’s greatest musicians. There is an emotional and creative connection between her and the instruments that she is in total command of. Everything that Liu Fang plays is at the highest level of musical passion, inventiveness, and technique. And her music also represents the “truest of the true” in authenticity and dedication to an art form that she loves. - James Johnston, St Croix Music, USA.

"Pipa-Speelster Fang is keizerin op afstand" - René van Peer, Noord-Holland, 07-04-2010.
(Click here to read the whole review article)

"Pipa maestra Liu Fang duets with Irish classical guitarist O’Toole in pieces by Vivaldi, Philip Glass, Astor Piazzolla, Irish composer Ian Wilson, Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances, a pair from China’s classical and folk traditions, and, perhaps the best integrated, Three Pieces For Pipa And Guitar by Japanese composer Toshiyuki Hiraoka." - Andrew Cronshaw, fRoots issue 309, 2009

"Massage voor de ziel" - door Guido van Oss, China Nu, jaargang 34, Herfst 2009

Liu Fang - Blues oriental et prestidigitation, L'Alsace, 30.08.2009

"... Pour une illustration moins livresque de la chose (mais ô combien éloquente !), il fallait se trouver hier midi à la chapelle Saint-Jean. Une heure durant, la musicienne Liu Fang, passée maître dans la pratique du pipa et du guzheng (les luth et cithare chinois), a littéralement subjugué l’assistance par ses capacités d’interprète/prestidigitatrice...."

"Sensationele Liu Fang beroert Chinese pipa" - Ton Maas, de Volkskrant.

"Liu Fang solo performance enchanted the audience" (in Chinese), - World Journal

"Montreal's Liu Fang wins over the West" - Tony Montague, Straight

"Liu Fang – ou le pipa enchanté" - Monique Kroeger, La source

La pipa milenaria de Liu Fang cautiva al público (Thousand year pipa of Liu Fang captivates the audience) - El Periódico de Aragón, 19/06/2008 www.elperiodicodearagon.com.

"... avant de jouer une première note, elle peut tranquillement fermer les yeux et nous garder en haleine d’un court silence qui nous envahit déjà avant de jouer la toute première note qui, elle, nous sort de la réalité par sa grâce et sa pureté. Liu Fang est une ambassadrice de la musique chinoise, mais surtout l’ambassadrice d’une âme et d’une spiritualité musicale..." - Bruno Deschênes, La Scena Musicale, 2008.

"...Fang’s presence on a stage certainly speaks volumes. Displays of tremendous passion and precision, ..." -RUPERT BOTTENBERG, the Mirror,2008.

La Presse

Le Devoir.

"When Liu plays the pipa and guzheng, you hear the haunting melodies and the harmonic range that is so accessible. She's just a star!" in Going global
by Charles Hutchinson, Music news and reviews, The press, UK. (Print this article)

"Pipa virtuoso Fang leads WSO back to classics"
Ted Shaw, The Windsor Star
Published: Sunday, February 10, 2008
"... Liu Fang mastered the tricky slow and fast passages with the dexterity of a flamenco guitarist...." (The whole article ...)

"... Liu Fang's ambition has delivered her to a trouble-free zone of lento tempos and rich sonorities where happily met musical minds play easily in a world of artistic suggestion." - David Fujino, in The Live Music Report, 2008

"Enchantingly Beautiful", By Kyle Y (November 4, 2007), www.amazon.com

"... extraordinary versatility of the pipa (string instrument similar to the lute) while possessing an extreme virtuosity in the interpretation...", in Chinese Dragon in the land of Uncle Sam (Dragones chinos en la tierra del tío Sam), alicantissimo.

"...Dès l’abord, que l’on soit ou non connaisseur, à l’écoute de Liu Fang, toute réserve ou préjugé est oublié, car c’est la musique qui parle ; ...." -Lucie Rault, L'armonie , Théâtre de la Ville à Paris, 2006.

Si l'on s'adonnait aux joies de la statistique, «grâce» et «poésie» seraient sans doute les mots revenant le plus souvent dans les critiques évoquant le jeu de Liu Fang. «Touchants», «étourdissant» et «subtiles» fiqueraient aussi sûrement en bonne place… - Ouest France, mardi, 1 août 2006.

Liu Fang - une fragrance soyeuse, Ethnotempos n° 26 d'octobre 2006.

"...These are master musicians at work, indeed. ... a delicately embroidered album that reveals a remarkable cogency between instruments worlds apart. ..." - Mondomix, 2006

"This CD is a veritable feast of alluring sounds, ranging from the eloquent and lyrical to the flamboyant and percussive. ..." - The wholenote magazine, April 3, 2003, Toronto, Canada

"... Liu Fang on pipa & Farhan Sabbagh on mazhar, an open framed drum, take off on a supercharged dance blast called "Night of the Bonfire" that will burn the soles straight off your shoes..." - PopMatters Music, 11 February 2004.

"Liu Fang is one of the most renown pipa players outside of China. ... She possesses virtuoso technique, grace and a unique empathy toward the music she plays -- whether it is a traditional folk tune or a modern Western composition. ..." - François Couture, All Music Guide.

"I think Liu Fang is a fabulous musician. The first 7 tracks of "Soul of Pipa I" gave me the feeling of youth and sweetness. The very classical style and the composure with which she played those pieces certainly revealed her complete control and confidence in the instrument. Those pieces brought peace and quietness to the heart, and subsided anxiety, uneasiness with clarity and serenity. This is not to say that there is a lack of passion in Liu Fang's playing. However, her multidimensional virtuosity started to usher itself with "Sunny Spring and white snow", a traditional, yet very challenging ancient piece of work. The melodic flow of the music mantled the underlying emotional energy that could lead to a wild eruption at any time. Liu Fang shows off her mastering of Pipa and music with "The King Chu doffs his Armour". It is hard to believe that such music could have come from a girl of this young age. This musical, spiritual, and instrumental encore sounds more like a downpour of mixed, yet contradictory moods. Liu Fang is never lost or deluded by the music; instead, she leads, conducts, and guides the music, as well as the audience, into a virtual world full of colors and conflicts: aspiration vs. desperation, life vs. death, to succumb vs. to resist. The intricacy is elaborately and fully interpreted with impeccable technique. The intensive percussions almost produced smoke out of the strings, while the slower passages echoed with hopelessness and disappointment. ..." - Guitarscape.com

"... Particularly touching is the soft "The Night of Bonfire," performed on the pipa (picked dulcimer) by Liu Fang ..." - The Rough Guide To The Music Of China (World Music Network, 2003).

"Liu Fang has touched audiences in Canada and around the world with the Chinese classical tunes she plays on her pipa. ... in spite of her hectic schedule, Liu Fang is radiant, and it's easy to see she loves her work. When she plays, she brushes the pipa softly with her cheek and holds it on her lap tenderly as if it were a child. ... ", By Natasha Mekhail, Realm Magazine, Issue No. 19 - Spring 2003.

"L’art du Pipa ... est à l’honneur avec l’une de ses plus talentueuses interprètes: Liu Fang ... cette virtuose du pipa, faisant corps avec son instrument, d’une grâce peignant son âme. Une virtuose qui nous fait entrer dans une écoute musicale où les difficultés de l’instrument s'envolent vers un monde dégagé des prouesses techniques et des figures de style. La légèreté, le froissement du son, en accord avec le jeu de Liu Fang... " - Présenté par Caroline Bourgine, ÉQUINOXE - Musiques du monde, L'émission du 10 SEPTEMBRE 2001, Radio France.
Radio France

"MUSIC - The sound of silence: Spaces between the notes matter to virtuoso Liu Fang. ... 'Behind every note, there is soul.' During her interview with The Gazette, Liu proved the point most eloquently when she removed her plpa from her case and began to play..." - BERNARD PERUSSE, The Gazette, March 26, 2002.

"LIU FANG - Fragrance de Chine: ... La Montréalaise d'origine chinoise Liu Fang est sans conteste la plus grande ambassadrice de l'art du pipa en Amérique et en Europe..." -Guy Marceau, La Presse, Le mardi 26 mars 2002.

... Liu Fang fait corps avec son instrument. ... Si la force de Samson résidait dans ses cheveux, celle de Liu Fang est sans contredit dans ses doigts! ..., FESTIVAL D'ÉTÉ QUÉBEC

"Liu Fang représente la jeune génération des grands solistes de pipa, alliant le goût de la tradition à la virtuosité qui lui permet d'exploiter le potentiel de l'instrument dans les limites de l'état de grâce." - Dr. Lucie Rault,COMMENTAIRES DES EXEMPLES MUSICAUX, MUSIQUES DE LA TRADITION CHINOISE, Actes Sud/Cité de la Musique, 2000, Paris, France.

 
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