Suvarna Garge (Editor)

Les Concerts en Chine

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Released
  
1982

Length
  
78:17

Release date
  
1982

Label
  
Dreyfus Records

Recorded
  
October 1981

Artist
  
Jean-Michel Jarre

Producer
  
Jean-Michel Jarre

Les Concerts en Chine httpsslatormusicfileswordpresscom201405je

Les Concerts en Chine (1982)
  
Musique pour Supermarché (1983)

Genres
  
Ambient music, Electronic music, World music

Similar
  
Jean-Michel Jarre albums, Ambient music albums

Les Concerts en Chine (English title: The Concerts in China) is a live album by Jean Michel Jarre, recorded in 1981 and released in 1982 on Disques Dreyfus. It was recorded during Jarre's Concerts in China tour of Autumn 1981, which consisted of five Beijing and Shanghai concerts in China; this was the first time a Western pop artist performed in China after the Cultural Revolution.

Contents

The album is a balance of previously released tracks by Jarre, new compositions inspired by Chinese culture, and one rearranged traditional Chinese track ("Jonques de pêcheurs au crépuscule"). The album consists mainly of live material, plus ambient sound recordings and one new studio track "Souvenir of China". Other new compositions recorded live include "Nuit à Shanghai", "Harpe Laser", "Arpégiateur" and "Orient Express". "Jonques de pêcheurs au crépuscule" ("Fishing Junks at Sunset") is a new arrangement of a very old traditional Chinese song known as the "Fisherman's Chant at Dusk", which was performed and recorded with The Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra and is often wrongly attributed as being composed by Jean Michel Jarre, misled by the album inlay.

The album was originally released as a double-disc LP, then as a double-disc CD. There was also a CD release in two separate volumes, with the cover color changed to blue (Vol. 1) and yellow (Vol. 2). In 1997, a one-disc remastered CD was released, made possible by reducing the total running time to 78:17 by reducing the gaps and audience noise between tracks. The remastering was done by Scott Hull at Masterdisk to the 96 kHz, 24 bit standard.

One of the album's original tracks – "Arpégiateur" – was used in the soundtrack of the film 9½ Weeks as well as in several mid-1980s episodes of the American soap opera Santa Barbara. Opening track "The Overture" is the first movement of "Magnetic Fields Part 1" slowed down.

The album reached #6 in the UK charts and #1 in Portugal.

Second edition (1997 remaster)

  1. "The Overture" – 4:47
  2. "Arpegiator" – 6:51
  3. "Equinoxe 4" – 7:39
  4. "Fishing Junks at Sunset" – 9:35
  5. "Band in the Rain" – 1:23
  6. "Equinoxe 7" – 9:52
  7. "Orient Express" – 4:21
  8. "Magnetic Fields 1" – 0:28
  9. "Magnetic Fields 3" – 3:48
  10. "Magnetic Fields 4" – 6:43
  11. "Laser Harp" – 3:26
  12. "Night in Shanghai" – 7:02
  13. "The Last Rumba" – 2:03
  14. "Magnetic Fields 2" – 6:19
  15. "Souvenir of China" – 4:00

Personnel

  • Jean Michel Jarre – Fairlight CMI, Eminent, Oberheim OB-Xa, Moog Taurus, EMS Synthi AKS, EMS VCS 3, Elka Synthex, Linn LM-1, Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer, laser harp, Elka X-705
  • Frederick Rousseau – MDB Polysequencer, RSF, Yamaha CS 60, Korg Rhythm, ARP 2600
  • Dominique Perrier – Moog Liberation, Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, Eminent, Korg Polyphonique, RSF Kobol
  • Roger Rizzitelli – electronic percussion, Simmons electronic drum

    • Additional personnel

  • Pierre Mourey – musical instrument coordinator
  • Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra - Chinese orchestra on "Fishing Junks at Sunset"
  • Huang Feili - orchestra conductor on "Fishing Junks at Sunset"
  • Mrs. Li Meng, Mr. Wang Zhi - collaborating artists (possibly playing guzhengs) on "Fishing Junks at Sunset"

    • Songs

    1The Overture4:50
    2Arpegiator6:54
    3Equinoxe IV7:47

    References

    Les Concerts en Chine Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA