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Score title
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At the Kansas City Chinese New Year Concert
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Composer
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Chen Yi
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Date
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2003
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Instrumentation
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String quartet (violin (2), viola, cello)
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Program note
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Commissioned by the Hanson Institute for American Music of the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester for theYing Quartet to perform on the No Boundaries concert series at Symphony Space in New York, this work is dedicated to Prof. Chou Wen-Chung, the mentor of the composer, for his 80th birthday celebration. The work is funded in part by the Copying Assistance Program of the American Music Center. The first movement was premiered at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC, on October 18, 2002. The New York premiere of the whole work was given at Symphony Space, NY, on May 2, 2003.
The work consists of three movements, inspired by the impressive programs that I saw at a Chinese New Year celebration concert in Kansas City, Missouri, presented by the organizations in our local Chinese community.
In the first movement, I use viola to imitate the Chinese erhu fiddle performed at the KC concert, which could play tunes like human beings talking in Chinese, to greet the audience vividly, while other instruments in the quartet play the supporting sounds in a celebrating mood. In the second movement, I use music to review the excellent performance of the hand-pulled noodle-making. This delicate art form originated in the Henan province in northern China, and its masters have performed the show everywhere around the world, not only to introduce the method of making the food, but also to share the culture with others. The third movement reflects the dramatic scene of moving gestures in Chinese sword dancing. The piece draws pitch and rhythmic materials from Chinese folk music in various styles, and borrows performing techniques from Chinese traditional instruments such as erhu (bowing), pipa (plucking), dizi (blowing), and percussion.
Chen Yi
