Sunshine Over Tashkurgan (阳光照耀着塔什库尔干) depicts the town of Tashkurgan (officially spelled Taxkorgan), near the border with Tajikistan. An ancient stop on the Silk Road, Tashkurgan’s name in Tajik means “Stone Tower”, and is a possible candidate for the Stone Tower mentioned by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy of Alexandria in his 2nd-century treatise Geographica as the midpoint of the journey between China and Europe.

In addition to using Persian-style maqams (modes), Chinese composer Chen Gang (b. 1935) worked two Tajik melodies into his composition: "Beautiful Taxkorgan" and "Spring in the Pamirs" to help evoke the Central Asian steppes and grasslands.

This excerpt comes from the concert filmed on 10 Nov 2023 at the Victoria Concert Hall, Singapore. This is scheduled to be published in full in the second quarter of 2025, as an exclusive for our channel members. (Thank you for your patience).

The recording of the work, along with the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto and Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1, is already available on Pentatone and digital streaming platforms: https://lnk.to/ButterflyLoversandPaga...

Chloe Chua, violin
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Rodolfo Barráez, Associate Conductor

Join us as a YouTube channel member today to view exclusive content.
   / @singaporesymphony