Long Yu on Making “The Song of the Earth” in Spatial Audio

“I’m delighted that in the midst of this pandemic, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra was able to deliver a historic coming together of two masterpieces,” world-renowned conductor and the orchestra’s director Long Yu tells Apple Music. Those two masterpieces are Mahler’s The Song of the Earth, written between 1907 and 1909, and modern Chinese composer Xiaogang Ye’s work of the same name. “[They] seem unrelated, but the lyrics of both symphonies originated from Tang-era Chinese poems,” adds Yu. “In the process of recording, we bridged a conversation between two symphonies that were created a century apart.” In this short film, Yu takes us inside that process, and explores the added majesty of recording The Song of the Earth in Spatial Audio. “We hope you’ll experience a completely new aural dimension,” adds Yu. “This has never been done. I’m honored to work with Apple Music’s Spatial Audio to accomplish this historical dialogue. A dialogue between the East and West. A conversation between the 20th and 21st century. An exchange between Austrian and Chinese music composers. We feel that such dialogues spark immensely colorful soundscapes bringing a different sonic world to life. I hope you enjoy it.”