by Stephanie Manning
Gazing at Chinese paintings in the shan shui (山水) style, whose artists use ink and a brush to create beautiful landscapes, you might notice two patterns. First, any people depicted are often dwarfed by the enormous scenery. Second, the painters don’t need to cover every inch of canvas — sometimes they let the blank space do the talking.
This appreciation of nature and the use of space influenced Irwin Shung and his piece Seven Chinese Characters, as the pianist and composer explained at the Resonance Project concert on February 7. That work opened the evening’s program, “Qin and Strings,” presented at Forest Hill Church in Cleveland Heights. The group timed this celebration of Chinese music to the upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations.
Using the projector screen on the side of the stage, Shung clicked through a carousel of images to give historical and cultural context to the program — a fusion of performance and pre-concert talk that worked very smoothly. Eventually he sat down at the piano to perform Seven Chinese Characters, a flowing and meditative journey that also draws inspiration from Li Bai’s poem “Quiet Night Thought” and a traditional melody called “Jasmine.”