Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago

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Hey Friends! This is a live performance of the classic Chinese piano piece ”Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon“ by Wang Jianzhong.

The Performance was part of a four-hand piano recital I did with a good colleague of mine. The grand piano is interesting because I never played on it before: It‘s the Chinese piano brand ”Kayserburg“. I find it has a crisp sound in the high register. Playing the keys felt sometimes a little bit heavy and not light enough, though.

More Chinese piano music on my channel:

Liuyang River: youtu.be/EaEFj2IaaG0
Sun Flower: youtu.be/Luw-zVtP8CI
Little Bamboo Raft: youtu.be/3Zrr-PSgb_g

Wang Jianzhong 王建中 (1933-2016) was born in Shanghai. He is a famous composer, pianist and music educator in modern China. He enjoyed the piano playing since childhood and entered the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in 1950. Originally he studied music composing with Sang Tong and Chen Mingzhi in the faculty of composition and then switched to the faculty of piano performing to study with Zhou Lude, Li Cuizhen, Zhang Junwei and Russian piano professor Arzamanova. In 1959, he started to teach piano playing in the Middle School affiliated to the SHMC. In 1973, he was then transferred to the Central Association of Music and worked as the assistant composer to pianist Yin Chengzhong. In 1978, he went back to the SCHM to teach in the faculty of composition and successively worked as a Professor and vice dean. 1988 he gained the position of vice-president and was in charge of academic and teaching research.

As a composer, Wang Jianzhong 王建中 is most distinguished for his piano compositions. He successfully combined the traditional Chinese folk music with Western composing techniques. His works are best known for their hybridity of folk music and their unique temper. His main works includes: Sonatina, Scherzo, Scene, Glowing Red Mornigstar Liles, Embroidering a Golden Silk Banner, Hundreds of Birds Worshipping the Phoenix, Liu Yang River and Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon.

Moreover, as a music educator, Wang Jianzhong 王建中 has been actively engaged in teaching the piano performing and composition courses and a number of contemporary composers such as Sheng Zongliang, Quan Jihao, Yin Mingwu, Jiang Chen, Wang Lu and Feng Ying who have greatly benefited from his education.