Mr. Tan has tried to meld Chinese melody and Italianate lyricism.

The group will perform three traditional Chinese melodies as well as works by Mozart and Brahms; with Michael Tree, on viola.

The Butterfly Lovers' Violin Concerto is written in traditional 5-note technique (pentatonic scale), it uses many Chinese melodies, chord structures and patterns.

He does insert Chinese popular melody from time to time, but the act seems almost dutiful and ends up as incidental.

The 1949 revolution precipitated an energetic effort to adapt Chinese traditional melodies and instruments to Western norms, as understood by Soviet advisers.

But the instrumentation did not define the musical character: the violin line was inflected with slides more typical of Chinese melodies, and the pipa sometimes offered Western-tinged riffs.

It is a moving, dramatically effective lament, beginning with a gentle Chinese melody that is disrupted by increasingly violent dissonance and explosive percussion.

During this time, Watanabe often performed wearing Chinese dress, and many of her songs incorporated traditional Chinese melodies or phrases of Chinese lyrics.

The music itself combines western polyphony with Chinese melodies and scales.

The playing seemed to capture the contours and inflections of a sung Chinese melody.