US violinist honors Chinese folk masterpiece

After four months of careful preparation, violin soloist Chin Kim from the United States recently unveiled his interpretation of Moon Reflected on Erquan Spring – one of the most revered pieces in Chinese folk music.

"This is a genius work with beautiful melodies and logically developed variations that convey the beauty of life and nature," remarked the 66-year-old New York-based violinist. "I was blown away and deeply moved the first time I heard it."

Composed by Hua Yanjun (1893-1950), better known as Ah Bing – a blind musician from Wuxi city in East China's Jiangsu province – Moon Reflected on Erquan Spring resonates deeply with the Chinese people for its emotional depth. Renowned pianist Lang Lang once hailed it as the "soul of Chinese music".

The beloved masterpiece was recorded along with five other compositions in September 1950 by the Central Conservatory of Music, using a wired recorder in a desperate effort to preserve Ah Bing's musical legacy. Ah Bing passed away just a few months later, in December.

(Full rendition of Moon Reflected on Erquan Spring by Chin Kim)

Kim, an internationally recognized soloist who has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra and top prizewinner at prestigious competitions such as the Queen Elisabeth and Paganini, hopes his performance serves as a humble tribute to the late legend.

"I listened over and over for months to the original recording and every detail that he was doing. I could never recreate 100 percent accurately what he did, but I wanted at least to capture the essence of it," he said.

Kim's decision to play the piece, originally composed for the erhu (a two-stringed Chinese fiddle), fulfills a promise he made five years ago during a concert in Wuxi, when he expressed his desire to learn and perform the piece but was unable to do so due to lack of preparation and the absence of a suitable score.

In April, a Chinese friend from Wuxi reached out to Kim, asking if he remembered his interest, he recalled. "I wasn't sure at first, but once I listened to the piece, I knew I had to do it."

One of the biggest challenges Kim encountered was adapting the erhu composition for violin. Among countless adaptations for various instruments and even vocal renditions, however, he couldn't find a violin transcription that stayed true to the original seven-minutes length and six-variation structure.