Interweaving of emotions
Subtlety is one of the characteristics of ensemble and chamber music. The instruments can be combined in any way. Different combinations bring different auditory experience. While full of surprises, you can hear the music trend of each part more clearly. It will take you into your own mood and spare no effort to show off its unique timbre.
It is about to begin a journey of the soul.
Year: 2015
Instrumentation: For 2 Violins, 1 Violoncello, 1 Contrabass
Duration: 9’00”
Program Notes:
On the cliff
Under full moon
There are grieved and screaming howls
And there you will find
The shadow of the wolf
In the war of territory
Defending against enemies
is the most soul-stirring scene
And there you will find
The shadow of the wolf Transfinite
Year: 2016
Instrumentation: For 1 Pipa, 1 Chinese Dulcimer, 1 Zheng
Duration: 7’50”
Program Notes:
This score is to express the unity of the universe, time and space, and the diversity produced by the continuous movement of matter and energy.
The badminton shaped fountain is composed of water vapor and plume, which seems to be derived from 2 patterns: rhythm and range, combination and deformation. The infinite possibility is brought by the collision, it is like the numbers and notes in the resembling music. And the playing method and the pitch intervals change alternately. The eruption is like the constant stimulation and oppression in the melody. To form infinity in the form of restricted compass, to get unity between chaos and order. In a limited region of articulation, to complete the form without any restriction, to find a breakthrough in the repeated matter collision and depression.
The universe, music, restriction and unlimited.
The universe is like the brain.
Year: 2017
Instrumentation: For 1 Violin, 1 Piano
Duration: 7’55”
Program Notes:
In semiotics, volute is a variant of circle, indicating a circular movement and a repetition of a process again and again, demonstrating the characteristics of "perpetual". The composition borrowed the concept and adopted the tones of Chinese Kunqu Opera to express the idea of reincarnation, eternal life, awakening, hope and new life.
The violin is just like the outline of the symbol. lines start from the original point, curly and tense. It sounds like the breeze and clouds, and the sound keeps flying (going) back and forth in the woods, in the moonlight, in the water and in the water waves.
The piano is like the inner side of the symbol. The revolving and surrounding the vortex shows has provided a sense of movement for the piano. Like the living things in nature, the piano has a strong life and spreads like flowers.
Year: 2017
Instrumentation: For 1 Violin, 1 Chinese Bamboo Flute, 2 Pipas
Duration: 11’48”
Program Notes:
The wind has a variety of changes in nature, and the whole song takes the wind as the element into semiotics and represents the vorticity symbol. In semiotics, volute is a variant of circle. Violin is like the wind, and pipa is like the volute, which indicating a circular movement and a repetition of a process again and again, demonstrating the characteristics of "perpetual". The composition borrowed the concept and adopted the tones of Chinese Kunqu Opera to express the idea of reincarnation, eternal life, awakening, hope and new life.
The violin is just like the outline of the symbol. lines start from the original point, curly and tense. Violin and bamboo flute sounds like the breeze and clouds, and the sound keeps flying (going) back and forth in the woods, in the moonlight, in the water and in the water waves.
The pipa is like the inner side of the symbol. The revolving and surrounding the vortex shows has provided a sense of movement for the pipa. Like the living things in nature, the pipa has a strong life and spreads like flowers.
Year: 2018
Instrumentation: For Flute and Percussion (Xylophone, Marimba, Maracas Timpani)
Duration: 9’44”
Program Notes:
This piece is based on the work
Year: 2019
Instrumentation: For String Quartet
Duration: 10’20”
Program Notes:
Fire, a phenomenon of energy release, changes shape as it vibrates. The rhythm is interwoven in the splitting, recombining, colliding and combining of the fire, and the timbre sways with each other in the pressure and temperature. The mixture of the two is more like the interpretation of the flow and jump of fire, which produces various forms in the continuous refining.
Fire, in the continuous acquisition of energy, transcends the existing form and possesses the purity of transforming the visible into the invisible. The natural friction between the bow and the string is like the impact of tangible materials, showing unique and consistent charm in different playing methods. Finally, the entanglement of different emotions, only to tell the purest nature.
Year: 2020
Instrumentation: For 1 Chinese Bamboo Flute, 1 Erhu, 1 Pipa, 1 Zheng
Duration: 7’43”
Program Notes:
“Colored Glaze”, the first of the five famous Chinese artifacts, is a magnificent chapter in this historical collection. It displays a fusion of changes toward a modern aesthetic while integrating a delicate mood, resulting in a beautiful harmony of emotion and art.
In Glittering Gloss, I want to show the crystal clear quality of this colored glaze, but not diminish its color fusion. For instance, there is a different timbre at the point of intersection of different textures, but it does not lose its unique consistent quality. The flow of color is like a song, like tears… the material moves like long and short breaths in linear textures extending and colliding. Large or small bubbles are like floating or sinking musical shapes, suddenly dense then suddenly discrete. Musical motives are constantly cutting through and in conversion, wandering in the flow of the colored glaze, and floating in the color of the different registers, exquisitely and effortlessly. Also, the glaze may be described as powerful. Colors are elegant and flying. The combination of thought and emotion convey tension, and the shock brought by the performing methods is also incisive. Different colors also suggest strong textures. The independent direction of the different voices combine with an internal connection between the instruments, forming a unique sound effect and creating a consistent musical mood. In the end, the soft feeling is of water, the tone alternates between instruments, and the intensity between the notes sounds gentle and clear.
Colored glaze, joins together myriad colors but remains always transparent, flying, with soaring spirit and elegance.
Year: 2022
Instrumentation: For Saxophone Quartet
Duration: 7’40”
Program Notes:
Feathers have the lightest touch, but when they gather, they can take on any large, violent form. In this piece, I want to use the characteristics of feathers to reflect the unique and powerful sound diversity and possibilities of saxophone, as well as the strong sense of contrast brought by different timbres of saxophone.
The beginning of the piece shows a giant blue butterfly made up of many feathers, which rises and falls on the waves. The flexibility of the saxophone is highlighted by the variety of timbres produced by the rapid conversion of different dynamics. The contrast of these dynamics and timbres creates an auditory experience of far and near, fuzzy and clear, present ing a sense of distance and misty atmosphere. Adding saxophone’s slap tongue and tremolo techniques to the rhythmic texture, I will focus on the chasing sensation generated by waves, forming more layers and sounds.
The giant butterfly-like feathers fades away, and the little splash that the butterfly makes becomes small feathers, falling gently and quietly. Those blue feathers are breathing, swaying, and slowly turning into the golden feathers. Saxophone's various air tones are interlaced with different vibrato playing methods to indicate the color changes from dark to bright feathers. The single melody is constantly superimposed to achieve multiple voices interweaving, and the strength is enhanced and mixed, presenting a scene of golden feathers flying all over the sky.
Feathers form golden waterfall colliding with the blue waves. The waves go up and the waterfall goes down, creating a swirling impact force of sound collision between light and dark, like a tornado, building up more and more energy. Using Saxophone’s keyclick, glissando, double tonguing and other techniques to achieve a strong sense of confrontation and contradiction, and the richness of the sound. Saxophone’s characteristics like these feathers, bloom in the intense interplay of different registers and rhythms.
Year: 2023
Instrumentation: For Pipa, Guqin, Zheng, and Electronics
Duration: 8’20”
Program Notes:
Dunhuang murals refer to the paintings and artistic works on the inner wall of the grottoes in Dunhuang, China. With a total area of more than 50,000 square meters. These works have been continuously painted for more than 1,600 years to their present scale, ranking the crown of China's murals, and also the largest and best preserved art treasury of grottoes in the world. Its content is rich and diverse, covering a large number of mythological stories and scenes, but also a large number depicting the different real life of people in each period.
Line and color are the artistic language of Dunhuang painting, and its color element mainly includes plant pigments, animal pigments and mineral pigments. Bouquet borrows the technique of "color gradation", one of the techniques of Dunhuang mural painting. Three traditional Chinese plucked instruments are combined with electronics to present the unique colors and fresh vitality in the murals, and shows the dynamic charm of line and color coexisting, giving equal emphasis to ink and color.
From the angle of the mineral colors of the murals, Bouquet shows the color changes of different purity brought by the color layers in different ores. The rhythm layer is like fragrant flowers falling, to wine sprinkling, from slow to fast and from dark to bright. The dynamic layer is as soft as the silk of the swaying clothes to the roughness of the soil mixed with gravel and stone, from light to heavy using the composition of the line from sparse to dense. The continuous superposition of different registers and different playing techniques of the three instruments, allows for dislocation and juxtaposition from shallow to deep layers, the brightness and purity of the color naturally showing the overall color connection. The three instruments bring a feeling from cool to muddy to vivid in terms of rhythm and timbre. Electronics retain the colors of instruments and extends and expands them by mixing dots and long lines of sound effects. The auditory atmosphere of the two echoes form a rounded and three-dimensional unique sense of space, finally presenting a feast of colors.
“The robes that lifted float in air, the mural shifted flowing fair.” (Unknown)
“Blending the color and ink with vitality, welcoming every being as guests.” (Shuwen Liao)