Vietnam - Ensemble Nguyen Vinh Bao

This music for string quartet, a selection of melodically refined chamber pieces full of highly subtle ornamentation, is a fine blend of different instrumental timbres and sonorities, performed with great poetry by musicians of the previous generation. Having undergone numerous cultural influences linked to it's geography, traditional Vietnamese music is a music of movement, an art of abundant variation where dynamism appears to be a permanent feature. Each composition is played from memory, and improvisation is one of the main forms of musical creation. When the melodic canvas is fixed in the memory, it is possible to perform extremely complex and daring variations.?Nguyen Vinh Bao: dan tranh (zither with 25 strings) Ba Tu: dan nguyet (moon-shaped lute) Ut Ti: dan nhi and dan gao (2-stringed spike fiddle) Hoang Co Thuy: dan ty ba (4-stringed pear-shaped lute)