National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan – My Heart Leaps Up

Format: CD
No. Discs: 3 discs
Duration: 162min.

Tracklist

Disc 1:

1. 風獅爺傳奇 | 蘇文慶
   The Legend of the Wind Lion God by Su Wen-Cheng
2. 古槐尋根 | 趙季平
   Old Scholartree – Tracing One’s Origin by Zhao Ji-Ping
3. 春 | 盧亮輝
   Spring by Lu Liang-Hui
4. 祈雨 | 關迺忠
   Rain Dance by Kwan Nai-Chung

Disc 2:

1. 一江春水 | 徐景新
   Spring River by Xu Jing-Xin, Piano by Tsai Ming-Jui
2. 瑤族舞曲 | 劉鐵山、茅沅
   Yao’s Dance Music by Liu Tie-Shan, Mao Yuan, Arranged by Peng Xiu-Wen
3. 東海漁歌 | 馬盛龍、顧冠仁
   Fishing Song of the East China Sea by Ma Sheng-Long, Gu Guan-Ren

Disc 3:

1. 層疊 | 李英
   Layers Upon Layers by Lee Ying
2. 竹歌 | 王愛康
   Song of Bamboos by Wang Ai-Kang
3. 鬧新春 | 楊春林
   Bustling New Year by Yang Chun-Lin
4. 江南好
   Wonderful Jiangnan, Arranged by Qu Chun-Quan
5. 趕擺會上 | 周成龍
   At the Market by Zhou Chen-Long
6. 密林深處 | 周成龍
   In the Depth of a Dense Forest by Zhou Chen-Long
7. 農村酒歌
   A Rural Drinking Song, Arranged by Chen Chong-Shen
8. 客家歌謠聯奏
   Hakka Tunes, Arranged by Lu Liang-Hui
9. 美麗的鳳尾竹 | 楊春林
   Beautiful Fern Leaf Hedge Bamboo, by Yang Chun-Lin

I can be a super shallow buyer, so when I stopped by those touristy spots on my visit to Taiwan where they were selling a whole bunch of different Teresa Teng collections music, I picked a copy of the National Chinese Orchestra Taiwan’s (NCO臺灣國家國樂團) My Heart Leaps Up (心動．聲動). I’m not much for orchestra music, unless it’s packaged as a movie soundtrack, but I just couldn’t help picking up a copy of this beautiful set.

It’s so beautiful to look at that it took me this long to unwrap it.

The cover is a simple white — it’s textured… like a leathery canvas — and pink text in both English and Chinese characters. The main graphics, which are used throughout the set and on the actual discs, are textured as watercolors… colorful abstract watercolor graphics. When I look at it, it reminds me of the water ponds in the park — I’m sure there’s a dye cut there somewhere to do the ripple-like cuts, which are highlighted by a more intense hot pink.

Better yet, not only are we treated with a gorgeous physical product, and literal music to the ears, the printed insert contains brief (at least, the English translations are brief) explanations on each of the pieces on the 3-disc set.

Music:
Technical:
Packaging:
Overall:

You can get My Heart Leaps Up over at YesAsia.