Three Chinese Poems (MMVIII) Su Shi dreaming of my deceased wife on the night of the 20 th day of the first month

Transcription

1 Three Chinese Poems Su Shi dreaming o my deceased wie on the night o the 20 th day o the irst month Li Shangyin her romises to come were ety words Mei Yeochen sacriice to the cat that scared all the rats (MMVIII) or chamber setet, with mezzo-sorano and oriental instruments (c. 14 mins) all rights reserved

2 notes To be erormed as interreted by the layers. 6-key Chinese sheng yusheng mezzo-sorano (Pinyin luent) Tuned Tibetan crystal singing bowls; C, D, E, F, G, A, B, with yarn, rubber, and coil mallets (Tuned metallic singing bowls are viable, i less desirable) 20 orchestral gong, 8 oera gong, lion drum Viola de gamba (Treble) Viola de gamba (Bass)

3 S u Shi dreaming o my deceased wie on the night o the 20 th day o the irst month

4 L i Shangyin her romises to come were ety words

5 M ei Yeochen sacriice to the cat that scared all the rats

6 comment Following rom an increasing ersonal interest in the Chinese language, and culture, the three oems o Three Chinese Poems are taken rom contrasting contexts within the history o Chinese literature. The aim was to ally the thematic character o the ieces with the music, while creating a usion o Western and Asian orms, as in the coming together o instruments o quite dierent rovenance. The Sheng is a tye o mouthorgan that has develoed rom a sile 21-note model carved rom wood or the mainstay o Chinese cultural celebrations throughout the ages, to a common 6-key model reinorced by metal in widesread usage today. The bold and brassy textures seemed to oer lots o otential to juxtaose against voice. The Lusheng is a larger (u to 7 metres), thereore lower sibling to the Sheng, and generally constructed rom wood has a more mellow and astoral texture, while keeing the dynamic range o the Sheng. Also limited to a entatonic tuning (as was the early Sheng) it worked as a good model or building tyically Asian melodies that shit in and out between the other textures. In turn, this motivated the choice o mezzo, rather than sorano, the conventional choice or Chinese oera, or the lower textures worked well alongside the lusheng. singing bowls are a tye o ceremonial instrument used widely in Tibet or meditation, and as such their tuning rom C-B is claimed to oer dier vibrations or healing across dierent areas o the hysique. Although their use here is not articularly theraeutic or mystical in this sense, the ethereal, sine-tye texture works I eel well with voice and the two wind instruments. Striking, as oosed to singing the bowls has a quite distinct reverberating warmth that made it useul or sile settings alongside melismatic vocal melody. The gongs rovide a) context, and b) textural colour, articularly used in sustained rolls, and the lion drum as a airly conventional rhythmic device. Finally, the viols have a less brash, and altogether subtler tone than their more modern counterarts, which makes them reerable here, and they have an unusually exotic ollowing also, which I elt better suited the iece. I ve stayed away rom extended techniques and harmonics on count o there being no (discoverable) model or their correct scoring. The structure is then based around the oems with areas o ellision or intermission between that oten make some more virtuosic solo exlorations amongst without the vocal setting. Overall, the iece over the 14 minutes gains in textural layers, develoing rom a sarse, sile and ethereal setting with the singing bowls and the outset, to the numerous coeting textures o the inal oem, articularly the closing measures. The iece in a sense closes into its own density during the inal oem, only released by the enduring xü ater the closing FFF.

7 Notation resented some roblems initially, since it is convention to score in jianu or numerical notation, or interretation within Asian culture. It is dubious, however, whether this could be real-time translated by Western chamber erormers, and so traditional scalic Western notation seemed reerable, desite any atriarchalism this ilies. Getting to gris with jianu mysel was a motivation, and indeed erhas a more desireable outcome may be a dual-notation score, but this was roblematically colicated and easy to misread while utting the work together. Pinyin translation similarly seemed more viable than hanzi or Western readers, and erhas more articularly was necessary or the accentuation o individual syllables internal to each structure. Very little seciication has been given to technique and scoring, since by nature the oetry settings desires a good deal o lexibility and ree i you like irovisation. Resources on oriental instrumental technique remain relatively sarse in rint in the UK, and online is not always too beneicial, so while every eort has been made to ily overall eect in each instance, interretation should ind more natural results that listing each and every desired texture

8 Sheng Lyrically e = Lusheng Mezzo-sorano Tibetan crystal singing bowls sot yarn mallet unless other seciied G slow, regular singing E A E A D D B C... F Percussion 20" Gong niente lion drum (rim) Guzheng Treble Viol e = niente 2 Bass Viol niente 2

9

10 17 >

11 sub, sub, sub, sub, 6 sub, sub,

12 5 e = 50] Icy cord rubber mallets mallets l.v. yarn mallets singing, not struck, yarn sp sp

13 6 2, nearly whiser 7 ()

14

15 8 5 niente

16 izz. arco izz. arco

17 10 62 With oise " gong l.v. lion drum 8" oera gong l.v. l.v lion drum 20" gong 9

18 s molto legato gliss. 2 gliss sp

19 12 niente, n.v. non vib. vib. sub gliss. gliss. gliss. niente sub

20 lion drum 20" gong gliss. gliss. 2

21 gliss. gliss. 5 gliss.

22 niente " gong

23 lion drum 20"gong izz. izz.

24 17

25 18 12 s> s> 2 2 vocalise: oooo vary timbres gliss. niente 20" gong

26 19 19 niente hum 8" gong lion drum 6

27 20 6 niente " gong

28

29 " gong

30

31 sto as though suddenly torn away wide vibr. sub, cresc. molto, sto as though suddenly torn away, sto suddenly sto as though suddenly torn away sto as though suddenly torn away