梨園之聲
Collection
Voices of the Pear Garden: Peking Opera on Early Records
The 'Pear Garden' is the old name for the Chinese theatre world, after the troupe kept by the Tang emperor Xuanzong. Peking opera came of age at the same moment as the gramophone, and its stars were recorded almost as soon as discs reached Shanghai. Collectors still argue over these sides line by line.
We start with Tan Xinpei, the late-Qing laosheng whose style defined the role. His handful of recordings, made around 1907–1912, survive here through a chain of cassette copies. Next comes Yu Shuyan, who inherited Tan's mantle and recorded sparingly; hear his 'Zhan Taiping' straight after Tan's. Ma Lianliang follows in a 1922 side, and Xun Huisheng, one of the 'Four Great Dan', shows how the female roles were sung in the 1920s.
These are three-minute 78 rpm sides, so arias are often split across 'first' and 'second' sections. Expect surface noise. What comes through is the precision of the diction and the way the jinghu fiddle breathes with the singer.
- 賣馬Mài mǎ — Selling the Horse4:32
- 戰太平Zhàn tài píng — Battle at Taiping3:26
- 戰太平Zhàn tài píng — Battle at Taiping3:23
- 洪羊洞Hóng yáng dòng — Hongyang Cave3:17
- 託兆碰碑Tuō zhào pèng bēi — The Dream Message and the Stele6:50
- 四郎探母Sì láng tàn mǔ — The Fourth Son Visits His Mother6:33
- 烏盆記Wū pén jì — The Black Basin6:51
- 借東風Jiè dōng fēng — Borrowing the East Wind3:08
- 狀元譜Zhuàngyuán pǔ — The Top Scholar's Genealogy2:53
- 玉堂春（頭段）Yù táng chūn — The Story of Su San, part 13:43