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Score title
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Cinnabar Heart
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Composer
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Chinary Ung
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Date
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2009
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Instrumentation
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Marimba
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Program note
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The color cinnabar (also known as vermilion and China red) has some interesting connotations. In China, it is the color of long life. In the Buddhist tradition, it is associated with compassion. The title Cinnabar Heart, then, is intended as an expressive frame for the piece; however, I invite considerable interpretive flexibility from the performer. In Southeast Asia, a performer and composer are one and the same.
In one section of my brief piece Cinnabar Heart, the performer is asked to sing on syllables primarily for their sounds as opposed to their meaning (so it would be beside the point to mention many details regarding a text).
The piece is designed as a single line extending in a continuous, flowing manner. Its progression is highly flexible, and the performer is often asked to use her discretion with regard to musical time. The expansion and contraction of time should be palpable as rhythmic patterns are revealed and concealed. -- Chinary Ung
Chinary Ung
