Premiere Works VI

Composers on Their Works

       Music From China's sixth "Premiere Works" concert--the most recent in this annual series presenting new works for traditional Chinese instruments--took place at Merkin Concert Hall on November 3, 1996. Among the seven works performed were three specially commissioned works: "Moving Clouds" by Zhou Qinru, "Seven Brocades" by Han Yong, and "Sheng" by Wang Guowei. The program also included two prize winners of the 1996 Music From China International Composition Competition: "Wilderness" by Hu Xiao, and "Autumn" by Shi Bing. Though at this concert, as in the past, the majority of composers were from China, two from Taiwan were represented as well: Pan Hwang-Long with "Yihjing," and Shing-Kwei Tzeng with "Te Hsuan Ts'ao."
       The musicians participating in the concert were Wang Guowei (erhu), Chen Tao (dizi), Min Xiaofen (pipa), Yang Yi (zheng), Yang Qin (zheng), Ying Ying Cao (sanxian), Helen Yee (percussion), and Susan Cheng (percussion). Zhou Long was guest conductor.
       The following are descriptions of the works with brief biographical notes of the composers.

Sheng ¡ÐWang Guowei
       This solo for erhu was commissioned by Music From China for the "Premiere Works VI" concert and performed by the composer. The title is a homophone for two Chinese characters meaning life and sound respectively. Its arch-shaped contour contains musical material which undergoes various modifications and retrogression to the beginning to complete a cycle. [A detailed description by Wang Guowei appears on page 2.]
Wang Guowei, a graduate of the Shanghai Conservatory, was erhu soloist and concertmaster of the Shanghai Traditional Orchestra.

Yihjing ¡ÐPan Hwang-Long
       In the Chinese aesthetic principle of yihjing, an artistic impression may be created as the result of portraying an object's likeness, an expression of feelings, or creating imagery by capturing the essence. This quartet for dizi, pipa, huqin and percussion contemplates the realm between real and abstract, limit and infinity. Merging the traditional with the contemporary, this work explores the interplay between a mood evoked by a scene and a scene evoked by a mood, as well as the unity of constant and variable; strength and gentleness. In the five sections, the odd-numbered ones use space notation and are introspective in character, steeped in a mystical aura.While in the even-numbered sections conventional meters convey more openness and generate vital energy.
Pan Hwang-Long is a professor of composition at the National Institute of the Arts in Taipei and president of the International Society for Contemporary Music (China-Taipei section).

Moving Clouds ¡ÐZhou Qinru
       The expression "like moving clouds and flowing water" is often used by the Chinese people to describe the fluency of a musical piece. This composition for erhu, pipa, dizi, zheng, sanxian and percussion takes this metaphor as its title. Its simplicity and directness evoke images of the everchanging patterns of moving clouds.
       A rhythmic "moving clouds" motif is initiated by the temple blocks and appears throughout. In the exposition and development, traditional Chinese theater music is the inspiration for the musical material. Two percussive patterns from the wuchang (martial scenes)¡Ðjijifeng and matui¡Ðsuggest continuous rhythmic movement. Jijifeng is fast paced, with repeated, even attacks. Matui is in triple time and is characterized by a heavier attack on the uptake of the second beat. Another rhythmic feature is the yaoban, a "swaying" meter used in singing. A highly expressive and improvised melody in free time, usually sung, is juxtaposed over a fixed and even rhythmic timeline. Pitches in the entire work are controlled by the framework of E-A-D, starting with A-E and ending with D-A.
Zhou Qinru graduated from the Central Conservatory in Beijing and received a Ph.D. in composition and theory from the University of California at Los Angeles.

Wilderness ¡ÐHu Xiao
       This work is composed for dizi, pipa, zhonghu, yunluo [pitched gongs] and paigu [drum set]. It creates a lively portrait of folk life using musical material derived from folk tunes of southwestern China. [Competition Third Prize winner]
Hu Xiao is an instructor of composition and theory at the Sichuan Conservatory.

Te Hsuan Ts'ao ¡ÐShing-Kwei Tzeng
       While form and structure are important to Western music, tone colors and sonorities are of major concern in Chinese music. In this solo work for pipa, these features are combined to expand the instrument's musical expression and performance capability.
Shing-Kwei Tzeng is a lecturer in the music department of National Taiwan Normal University and a member of the International Society for Contemporary Music.

Seven Brocades ¡ÐHan Yong
       This work draws inspiration from the cycle of twelve animals from the Chinese zodiac, including rat, cow, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake and horse. This piece weaves a tapestry of musical colors, patterns and textures and each movement captures the character traits of the animal. It is orchestrated for dizi, erhu, zheng and percussion.
Han Yong graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory where he also taught composition.

Autumn ¡ÐShi Bing
       The poetically inspiring mood of autumn is reflected in a tone painting with touches of light and color created by the xiao, zheng and percussion. [Competition Citation Award]
Shi Bing studied composition at Sichuan Conservatory.

Sheng: Solo for Erhu

by Wang Guowei

       In twenty some years of playing the erhu, I have harbored a desire to compose for it. In 1986 I wrote my first erhu piece, "A View of Jiangnan," which won Third Prize in a national competition for folk dance music. Thus encouraged, I went on to compose "Convergence," "Remembrance of the Past," and "Mountain Streams." While performing professionally and studying composition and theory at the same time, I also edited and produced music programs for Shanghai radio. This provided an invaluable opportunity for learning and analyzing music of all periods and from around the world. With this exposure, I was able to experiment with various ideas in each of my compositions.
       I came to live in New York City in 1996. Being immersed in this melting pot of world cultures has given me a broader vision and new insight into Chinese culture. When the opportunity arose, I composed "Sheng" for solo erhu for Music From China's "Premiere Works VI" concert.
       The name "Sheng" is the pinyin romanization of, in this case, two specific Chinese homonyms: one means existence, the other voice, sound, etc.
       In musical style, I tried to embrace both a contemporary mood and the indigenous sound of the erhu. The solo erhu is a symbol of a lone sojourner in a vast expanse, searching, conversant with only heaven and earth. I wanted to create space for the erhu to express itself freely, much as in Chinese calligraphy different touches of the brush create subtle shadings of ink and changing patterns.
       Tonal structure is built on the notes AGE (those same letters also appear in the three syllables of my romanized name). This set of descending notes based on A together with its mirror image form an A-Shang pentatonic scale (ABDEG). From this, twelve tones are subsequently derived. Fixed rhythms and meters are mixed with improvised passages that give a fresh interpretation with each performance.
       The arching contour gives form to a cycle of transformations. The set AGE and its mirror ABD following open the piece as harmonics. An aura of intangibility and lightness is enhanced by the vibrato on the A, creating a sound much like blowing on a sheng (reeded mouth organ), a metaphorical life-giving breath. From these five notes, a series of mirror images emerges, such as A#GE¡ÐAbBD, AbG#E¡ÐA#BbD, etc. In this rubato section, the melody is at first tentative, pure and uncomplicated as a newborn child. Gradually turning legato, it becomes tender and sweet.
       After some initial fluttery gestures, the second section begins freely with a compelling reappearance of the original note motif. It then enters into a moderato in 4/4 and 2/4 meter. A pattern of homogeneity and symmetry colored by slides and portamenti give this section a unique musical character.
       An allegro section follows. The erhu invokes the rhythmic movement of jinla manchang (fast bowing¡Ðslow singing) of Chinese opera. Here, "fast bowing"is a succession of scales, and "slow singing" is the melody derived from each scale. Each musical phrase represents a separate scale; each scale takes one of the notes from the original as the tonic in its construction. The climactic appearance of all five scales marks the center of the piece and signals the start of a retrogression to the opening. It begins immediately as an allegro with short, staccato notes and tightening of the meter from nine beats to one beat.
       An agitated outburst ushers in the fourth section. This andante represents a retrogression of the second section. Long phrases, large fluctuations of dynamics and sustained tremolo are imbued with an inner tensile strength. This ritualistic baptism, signifying the metaphysical union of man and the universe, is the climax of this work.
       Following the energetic appearance of five tones in open fifths, stillness sets in to give the erhu space for a soliloquy. As notes in free tempo hover softly in the high register, the mood is dark and introverted. A combination of portamenti and vibratos suggests the sobbing of an inner voice. This emotional moment soon subsides, leaving only serenity. Using the whole bow, the erhu plays a gentle melodic line punctuated by slight accents that suggest the rhythmic striking of temple blocks. The concrete and abstract melt into one; nothingness and being coexist. The music is constantly diminishing as it moves progressively toward the extreme high register. With the last few harmonics, it fades into a limitless void.
       In creating this work I have sought to integrate the traditional with contemporary. Despite the use of a chromatic scale, the music is essentially tonal. For richer tone colors, I especially emphasized various performance techniques of the erhu such as vibratos, tremolo bowing and harmonics. Two important features of the erhu received particular attention: a bamboo bow which has tremendous spring and elasticity; and the lack of a fingerboard, which facilitates vertical movement and inward-outward pressing by the left hand. Consequently, these acoustical nuances of the erhu move the listener with a compelling sound.

Books of Note

       While Jiangnan sizhu is a relatively well-known regional style, there are surprisingly few extensive studies of it. Witzleben's book is, he admits, only a "first step" in the direction of prompting deeper scholarly examination of this important genre. In the book, based on several years of fieldwork in the 1980s, the author looks at the music from both an academic perspective--at the Shanghai Conservatory--and from the more intimate setting of a participant-observer with several urban ensembles.
       Before describing Jiangnan sizhu as he found it in Shanghai, Witzleben presents an overview of the music's history, sketching its probable antecedents, and its relation to other musical forms such as musical storytelling, regional opera, and solo pipa traditions. Other chapters deal with the performers, their interactions and group dynamics; performance styles; aesthetics; and repertory--the "Eight Great Pieces" that constitutes its core, and attempts to enlarge the repertory, with newly composed works in a traditional vein for example.
       Jiangnan sizhu is "cultivated as an amateur art," says Witzleben, and its relation to professional and academic music circles is a complex one. Performers and enthusiasts may be from any walk of life, and, in fact, not many of those Witzleben encountered in the course of his fieldwork were either scholars or professional musicians.
       The situation may be changing, though. The official and academic world has been promoting Jiangnan sizhu, trying to gain a wider audience for this traditional artform. "In many ways, the Jiangnan sizhu tradition has split into two branches, one amateur and one officially sponsored," Witzleben notes. But he predicts that "the two branches of the music will enrich each other and the tradition as a whole."

Folk Music of China: Living Instrumental Traditions
By Stephen Jones. 1995. 454 pages. Oxford University Press. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016.

       In his preface Jones writes, "The subject of this book is folk music, rather than the urban professional music that often passes for folk music. In China, there has been a long and persistent neglect of popular culture in favor of official, elite culture. The Confucian bias of the imperial age has been replaced in modern times by the values of a new elite, stressing urban, professional, and Party-sponsored music-making. Meanwhile, the music still performed by folk musicians is often neglected."
       This book is intended to stimulate further research into such neglected traditions by serving as "a handbook, outlining the main topics for study."
       In contrast to the "urban professional music," most of the music Jones categorizes as "folk" is rural and ceremonial. It marks such major occasions as weddings and funerals, and accompanies local festivals of the lunar year, temple fairs, and various religious rituals. There are, obviously, myriad differences in the music and its typical contexts from region to region.
       The book is divided into three sections. The first outlines the social background--the ever-changing status of the music and its practitioners throughout political upheavals from the Republican period to the present. There is some discussion of ceremonial contexts, aesthetics, transmission, and past and current efforts by Chinese musicologists to study and document it in the field.
       The second section deals with the musical background, including genres and instrumentation, musical features, notation, variation techniques, and repertory.
       A final section is devoted to a descriptive survey of some of the more prominent of the numerous regional genres: the shawm (suona) and percussion bands of Northern China; ritual ensembles in Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, and Shaanxi; the shifan and sizhu ensembles of Jiangnan; nan guan, bei guan, and other genres of Fujian; and Cantonese, Hakka, and Chaozhou music of Southern China.

Concerts

Composition Prize: Call for 1997 Entries

     Terms and conditions of the competition are as follows:

1. The competition is open to composers of all nationalities without age limit.
2. Eligible works should be for a chamber ensemble of up to eight performers, and last from six to fifteen minutes. Instrumentation must be based on the following: one dizi, one erhu (doubling gaohu or banhu) or zhonghu, pipa, zheng, sanxian, liuqin, yangqin, ruan, and percussion.
3. All works submitted must not have been the subject of any previous award, nor have been previously published, performed in public, nor have been used commercially in whole or in part or in any other version prior to the announcement of the prize in October 1997.
4. Composers retain the copyrights for their compositions.
5. All applicants must submit the official entry form available from Music From China, which can be duplicated by the applicants.
6. Scores will not be returned; all applicants should keep the original copies of their works and submit duplicates.
7. The decision of the judges will be final. The judges reserve the right to divide the award money or to decline to make an award.

Article Index
Newsletter Vol. 6, No. 1
Spring 1997
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