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Score title
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The Han Figurines
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Composer
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Chen Yi
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Date
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2007
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Instrumentation
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Violin, clarinet, tenor saxophone, double bass, piano, percussion
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Program note
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Commissioned by Opus 21 ensemble (Artistic Director Richard Adams) and Fonatana Chamber Arts, premiered at Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, MI on 5/11/06, with subsequent performances at Symphony Space in NYC on 5/20/06 (with Meet The Composer's Creative Connections Award), at Light Fine Arts Center in Kalamazoo, MI on 6/23/06, and at Carnegie Center in Three Rivers, MI on 6/24/06.
The mixed sextet The Han Figurines is a musical realization of my impression of the Chinese clay figurines of the Eastern Han (25-220 A.D.). Have you seen the shapes of the enraptured storyteller, the vivid acrobat, and the moving dancers with long sleeves? They are in highly exaggerated forms and postures, in large and sweeping movements—the innocent and bold images symbolize the strength, motion, and speed. It's the beauty of the crude and primitive power of humanity in its conquest of the material world.
Chen Yi
