COMPOSERS: Tan Dun,Yim Hok-Man
LABELS: Naxos World
PERFORMER: Yim Hok-Man (percussion)
CATALOGUE NO: 76002-2
Turning to YIM HOK-MAN’s percussion, the initial austerity is refreshing as he assembles a deep-toned processional rhythm – a picture in the booklet confirms the monster size of the drum. The piece builds to whirring climaxes with quite extended techniques, co-credited to Tan Dun as composer, and the much-travelled Yim continues with an increasingly spectacular array of instruments and regional styles.
He is joined a couple of times by an orchestral assembly of Chinese strings. Once he plays the xylophone, which makes an inoffensive tune sound like something by Patrick Moore, though the virtuosity soon transfigures it.