Iris dévoilée (Iris unveiled)

This Iris plants are an important in the myth, art, and cultivation in many societies. The Chinese composer, Qigang Chen (or Chen Qigang), has rendered a musical portrait of the female sex likened to the fragile and beautiful Iris flower.

This 2003 Iris dévoilée (Iris unveiled) recording is a much acclaimed piece of artistry. In his arranged marriage of the East and West musical ware, Chen has exotically woven a tapestry of sensual harmonics and vocalises (Beijing operatic and Western) depicting the eternal feminine mystique.* The musical metaphors of the female personae are intrinsically Chinese. There are five additional tracks on the CD. Each invokes an element of the five core progenitors that which gave rise to the physical world known to the Chinese.

This, however, is not the CD one wishes to complement the delicacies of the conversation, nor when solitude is desired.

* The nine mica panels of female attributes portraited in this tone poem are:

1. Ingenious
2. Chaste
3. Libertine
4. Sensitive
5. Tender
6. Jealous
7. Melancholic
8. Hysterical
9. Voluptuous