Sigh of Ailment is also called Where to Go, which means: where is life going to? The first draft of the melody was written in 1915, expressing the emotional suffocation and the ambition to fight against the evil powers during a time of poverty, sickness and unemployment. Sigh of Ailment is not about moaning in sickness, but about the mental agony as if caused by some kind of mental sickness.
This piece was created in Qingmuguan in Sichuan Chongqing on Spring Festival in 1943. The composer was moved by the childern’s playing little flower-drum and the scene of people’s celebration of Spring Festival by singing songs. It expresses a feeling of optimism.
China was in a devastating condition of civil wars and foreign occupation in the autumn of 1936. The composer missed his beautiful homeland and at the same time was apprehensive of the state of his country. The allegretto displays his urge for homeward bound. The music was intermixed with old memories and despondency.
LU Xiu-tang : Performed on December 30, 1958; yangqin accompaniment:XIANG Zhu-hua 4:48
River WaterNortheast traditional musictranscribed by HUANG Hai-huai
Back in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties there was a folk tune of similar title. A piece of the same tile was also among a collection of music for the sheng & guan. In the early 1950s, several musicians arranged a piece with this title for the wind instrument by stretching the rhythm and ornamenting an old score. In 1962, HUANG Hai-huai successfully transcribed that piece for the erhu. This current version is filled with anger and vigor. With tears it vividly accuses of the miserable life and unjust rule of the old society.
HUANG Hai-huai : Performed on May 10, 1963; yangqin accompaniment:LIANG Rui-hua 7:35