Summertime

The long, languid melodic lines of Gershwin’s Summertime are beautifully coloured with delicate, translucent harmonic hues in this arrangement for guitar by one of Japan’s foremost composers, Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996).

Deepening the exploration of East meets West, Xuefei presents three Beatle’s songs: Michelle; Yesterday; Here, There & Everywhere. Takemitsu’s arrangements present these well-known melodies in new and interesting settings with delicately-voiced harmonies and some playful rhythmic shapes adding strokes of vivid colour.

A Song of Early Spring is a popular Japanese song composed by Akira Nakada (1996-1931). Takemitsu’s harmonic setting presents this beautiful melody in a charming yet contemporary way.

Finally from Xuefei’s homeland, a well known signature song of popular Chinese singer Li Jian (1974-) - Lake Baikal. Li Jian wrote this song of love and destiny, inspired by the local music whilst on a trip to the world’s deepest lake. This is the world-premier recording of this piece in an arrangement for solo guitar.