Canal Barcarolle
A composition by Johannes Möller for guitar chamber orchestra with piano, cello and double bass commissioned by the Hangzhou Cultural Festival in 2018. This video is from a recording of a concert given by students from the Zhejiang Vocational College of Arts and teachers from Hangzhou Tianlai Piano Company in April 2023.
Hangzhou Grand Canal is the longest manmade water way in the world and provided link between Beijing and Hangzhou through four different provinces. It is also the most ancient canal in the world that is still in use. The oldest parts of the canal date back to the 5th century BC. Much later in the early 19th century “Göta Kanal” was constructed. Similarly this composition combines the sound of ancient Chinese music and Swedish folk music from the 19th century. There is also another element which is the 19th century Barcarolle, which is style imitating the boatmen’s song in Venice. These elements combine into music connecting cultures beyond time and space.