Night Impressions for Traditional Chinese Instruments
Work Overview
Instrumentation: erhu, dizi, pipa, percussion
Commission: Music From China through a grant from the Jerome Foundation
Premiere: Music From China, Nov. 5, 2005, Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY
Duration: 18 minutes
Program Note
Much of the music that I have composed over the past decade or so has been inspired by Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American folk music, and yet Music From China’s commission of this work has occasioned a significant departure from the Western chamber and orchestral tonal worlds in which I have always worked. I embraced the challenge of writing for Chinese instruments by studying the traditional repertory as well as the techniques of the virtuosi of these instruments. I then filtered the instruments’ essential characteristics through the prism of my own voice and attempted to highlight the individual tonal colors of the instruments.
The first movement is meant to evoke the sounds of a Zen Buddhist prayer and the tapping of a temple block. The second movement, Night Music, has an ephemeral quality and depicts in my mind the sounds of nighttime with nervous scampering and creeping of nocturnal images and spirits. The third movement, Arioso, has as its influence Indonesian gamelan textures, including a duet sung by the erhu and the dizi, interjections interposed by the pipa, low drones chanted by the gongs, and constant pitter-patterings of glassy and tinkling percussion. The final movement, Celebration, is inspired by festive Chinese parades and the sounds of Cantonese opera. The gaohu, the soprano instrument of the erhu family, replaces the erhu to give a brighter sound. Chinese drums, cymbals, and woodblocks contribute to the celebratory atmosphere, and begin and end the movement.
I. Prayer
II. Night Music
III. Arioso
IV. Celebration
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Errata List
Artists are welcome to contribute any errors or notes for this work on our collaborative errata list.