Bach to China with Yu
Volume 3 of Julian Yu’s clarinet music, with Robert Schubert and ensemble in arrangements that join Chinese folk melody to Western classical craft.
Josephine Vains cello
Wang Yi violin
Akemi Schubert piano
Virginia Kable cello
This release brings together Chinese folk melodies and classical arrangements, performed by an ensemble of outstanding Australian and international musicians. Yu’s writing for clarinet, violin, cello and piano weaves Eastern and Western traditions into one cohesive soundworld.
The programme opens with his arrangement of Bach’s monumental Chaconne for clarinet, cello and piano, then turns to twenty-four Chinese folk songs for clarinet, violin and cello. Drawing on Bach and Brahms, the settings keep each regional melody’s character and storytelling intact.
It continues the clarinet series begun on China Wind and Old and Yu, with Robert Schubert joined by Wang Yi, Josephine Vains, Virginia Kable and Akemi Schubert.
These arrangements are my tribute to both the classical masters and the folk traditions that have shaped me, bridging cultures through music.
Artists
Julian Yu
Julian Yu is a multi-award-winning Australian composer whose musical language is imbued with elegance and expressiveness, both enhanced by impeccable craft and a special attention to detail.
Robert Schubert
Robert Schubert is a Melbourne clarinettist and woodwind lecturer whose playing centres on chamber music and new works written for him.
Julian Yu
Julian Yu is a multi-award-winning Australian composer whose musical language is imbued with elegance and expressiveness, both enhanced by impeccable craft and a special attention to detail.
Josephine Vains
Josephine Vains is an Australian cellist, chamber musician and educator, with a performance career encompassing modern and historical ‘cello.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer and organist of the late Baroque. His sacred and secular music for choir, orchestra, organ and solo instruments remains among the foundations of the Western concert and church repertory.
Wang Yi
Wang Yi has been a prize winner in both the Chinese National Violin Competition and the Rudolf Lipizer International Competition, held in Italy. After completing his undergraduate study at the Beijing Central Conservatory with Professor Zhi Long Wang, Yi travelled to London to continue his postgraduate study with world-renowned violinist and educator, Yfrah Neaman.
Akemi Schubert
Akemi Schubert is a sought after teacher, chamber musician and accompanist and is an official accompanist at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, Melbourne University.
Virginia Kable
Virginia Kable is an established Melbourne-based orchestral and chamber musician, having played with the Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Adelaide Chamber Orchestra, Academy of Melbourne and as a regular guest over many years with the Melbourne Symphony and Orchestra Victoria.
Audio previews
Tracks
- Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004 v. Chaconne [arranged for clarinet, cello and piano] Johann Sebastian Bach Arr: Julian Yu 15:38
- i. Jiaocheng Mountain 1:02
- ii. Gada Meilin 1:31
- iii. The Little Lover :52
- iv. Picking Flowers 1:01
- v. Little Cabbage :42
- vi. Lan Huahua :47
- vii. Su Wu Tends the Sheep 1:24
- viii. Jasmine (Hebei) 1:06
- ix. Jasmine (John Barrow) :48
- x. Jagged Mountain 1:02
- xi. Wind Rustles the Bamboo Leaves :56
- xii. Going West :54
- xiii. Wild Lily :33
- xiv. A Pair of Ducks and a Pair of Geese 1:12
- xv. Mountain Song of the Horseman :44
- xvi. Taihang Mountains :40
- xvii. Thirty-Mile Village 1:11
- xviii. A Rainy Day 1:43
- xix. Man Jiang Hong 2:35
- xx. Bitter and Alone :55
- xxi. Willows are New 1:41
- xxii. Three Folk Songs 1:43
- xxiii. Willows are Green :26
- xxiv. Thunder a Thousand Miles Away 1:23
- i. Dance 5:30
- ii. Two Dances 5:32
- Passacaglia “Bach at the Peking Opera” for clarinet, violin and cello Julian Yu 5:38
24 Chinese Folksongs arranged for clarinet, violin and cello Julian Yu
Dances from the XII Muqam, arranged for clarinet, violin and cello Julian Yu
Performers
- Robert Schubert
- Josephine Vains · tracks 2–28
- Wang Yi · tracks 2–28
- Akemi Schubert · track 1
- Virginia Kable · track 1
Where to listen
Bach to China with Yu is available for streaming through Spotify and Apple Music. It can also be purchased through the iTunes Music Store.
Bach to China with Yu is available as a CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer online ordering.
Product details
- Catalogue number
- MD 3474
- List price
- $25.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 59 minutes 9 seconds
- Venue
- Move Records Studio
- Release date
- 30 Sep 2025
- Musical work
copyright - © 2025 Move Records
- Sound recording
copyright - ℗ 2025 Move Records
- Category
- Classical
- Genres
- Contemporary Classical, World & Cross-cultural
- Barcode
- EAN 8721416165924
Related recordings
50 Chinese Folk Songs
The first of two collections on this disc, 50 Chinese Folk Songs, presents Julian Yu’s piano arrangements of well-known Chinese melodies. Fifteen further early piano pieces mix song arrangements with original writing. All 65 tracks are played by Ke Lin.
China Wind: the clarinet music of Julian Yu, Vol. 1
Five chamber and concertante works for clarinet with strings, piano and flute show Julian Yu drawing on the inner structures of Chinese tradition rather than its surface colour, with remarkable versatility and emotional range.
Old and Yu: The Clarinet Music of Julian Yu, Vol. 2
Catchy short pieces by Julian Yu for clarinet with string quartet, and with cello and piano: playful settings that braid Chinese folksong with oddly familiar classical themes, including Dvořák and Mozart.
Cutetudes
Cutetudes (‘cute’ + ‘études’) is a set of twenty short, classically related and humorous piano pieces Julian Yu wrote on commission from pianist Ke Lin.
Life and Love
Cameron Roberts plays Johann Sebastian Bach at the piano, joining original keyboard works with his own arrangements and those of Busoni and Lipatti.
The Other Side of Tony Gould
Tony Gould is best known as a jazz pianist and improviser. This recording turns to his classical side: original concert works written over two decades, with Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in a four-hand piano version.