A meeting of two academic artists with distinct personalities.

VTV.vn - Musician Cuong Tong and cellist Tran Hong Nhung have just introduced to the audience a music project titled "Walking in Silence".

Walking in Silence is an album combining cello and piano, built upon the academic technique and cinematic musical sensibilities of the two artists. According to composer Cuong Tong, all the works in the album were composed during his more than 11 years living and studying in Beijing, China. His experiences as someone living far from home, along with the quiet nights spent walking around the Olympic grounds and the Bird's Nest stadium, became the main material and inspiration for the project.

Looking back at all his compositions, Cuong Tong realized that the songs in "Walking in Silence" all share a common emotional state of tranquility, reflecting the author's personal reflections over a decade.

In this album, if the piano represents inner thoughts, the cello acts as a voice expressing emotions. Composer Cuong Tong shared that he considers the cello to have a sound closest to the human voice, capable of flexible transitions. He hopes the cello will not only perform melodies but also, together with the piano, tell the album's shared story.

To realize his artistic vision, Cuong Tong invited cellist Tran Hong Nhung to collaborate. Both are well-trained artists with solid academic backgrounds. Cuong Tong spent 13 years studying in China, specializing in piano, composition, and orchestration. Meanwhile, Tran Hong Nhung studied at the Tchaikovsky National Conservatory and the Gnesin National Academy of Music in Russia. She was the only Vietnamese artist to hold the position of Concertmaster of the Asian Youth Orchestra for two years, 2013-2014. According to Cuong Tong, he chose to collaborate with Tran Hong Nhung because of her ability to control emotions and the subtlety in her playing, elements that are essential for this project.

The recording process for "Walking in Silence" lasted three years to maintain the necessary "silence" of the music. According to the team, although many musical passages weren't technically complex, preserving the spirit of the work proved to be a major challenge in the studio. The artists had to handle very long and delicate notes, requiring intense concentration and emotional control.

According to Cuong Tong, "Walking in Silence" didn't begin with a conventional album production plan. It developed very slowly, like how people unconsciously accumulate memories over many years. Some songs started with just a few hastily recorded piano notes on a phone. There were cello passages that suddenly popped into his head in the middle of the night, and he had to rush back to record them before the memory faded the next morning. Looking back at all his works after many years, Cuong Tong realized that they all shared a common emotional state: loneliness but not despair, silence but not emptiness. Therefore, the name "Walking in Silence" appeared almost naturally, as the most accurate way to describe that period of his life.

Source: https://vtv.vn/cuoc-gap-cua-hai-nghe-si-han-lam-co-ca-tinh-rieng-biet-100260526133119543.htm