Here are some of my favorite music, and selected photos from my album. They are not (directly) related to my research.
I enjoy classical music and opera, especially the works from late-romantic to modernist era. My favorite composers are Richard Wagner and Ludwig van Beethoven. Below are some of my favorite works.
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, WWV 90: my favorite opera, and perhaps my favorite musical piece of all kinds. The story is based largely on a 12th-century romance by Gottfried von Strassburg. The music itself is both superb and enormously influential among Western classical music.
Here is a recording by René Kollo, Margaret Price, Brigitte Fassbaender, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Kurt Moll, Staatskapelle Dresden and Carlos Kleiber.
Here is the German-Chinese libretto I translated.
Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen, WWV 86: An epic 15-hour cycle of four music dramas completed by Richard Wagner in a time span of 26 years. The music makes use of hundreds of leitmotifs (leading motives) that consistently follow the developments of the story and the characters. Many consider this work as one of the greatest artistic achievements in human history.
I am currently translating its orginal German libretto to the Chinese language.
Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D Major: Mahler's last completed symphony and one of my favorite symphonies.
Here is a live performance by Lucerne Festival Orchestra and Claudio Abbado at the 2010 Lucerne Festival.
Beethoven: Große Fuge, Op. 133: one of Beethoven's last string quartets. Although composed in 1825, this piece has attracted enormous attention and has been critically acclaimed since the 20th century. Igor Stravinsky described it as "an absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever".
Here is a recording by Takács Quartet.
I am a frequent traveler. Here are selections of photos from my album: