1. The Sacrifice Mariano Fernandez (Argentina)
牺 牲 马里亚诺 费尔南德斯（阿根廷）
For tape and voice
This work is based on the text Apu Inca Atawallpaman that relates the murder of Atawallpa, Chief of the Inca Empire, in 1532 by Spanish conquerors led by Francisco Pizarro. For the past 500 years, this text has been passed anonymously and orally from one generation to another in the Quechuas communities of the Andes. All the sounds of the piece, are records of indigenous singers and orchestras, healers, jaguars and ethnic musical instruments of Sudamerica. The voice that is performed live recites a free extract of the original poetry.
2. Sonata No.2 in b-flat minor, op.35 Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849)
葬礼进行曲 肖邦 佛里德里克
Piano solo: Denny Luyao Liu
钢琴独奏：刘路遥（丹尼）
The sonata consists of four movements.
Grave; Doppio movimento
Scherzo
Marche funèbre: Lento
Finale: Presto
Frédéric Chopin composed his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor, Op. 35 ("Funeral March") mainly in 1839 at Nohant near Chateauroux in France, although the funeral march third movement had been composed as early as 1837.
The first movement features a stormy opening theme and a gently lyrical second theme. The second contains a calmer, more relaxed melodic theme. The third movement begins and ends with the celebrated funeral march in B flat minor which gives the sonata its nickname, but has a calm interlude in D flat major. The finale contains a whirlwind of unison notes with unremitting (not a single rest or chord until the final bars) unvarying tempo or dynamics (changes of volume); James Huneker, in his introduction to the American version of Mikuli edition of the Sonatas, quotes Chopin as saying "The left hand unisono with the right hand are gossiping after the March". Others have remarked that the fourth movement is "wind howling around the gravestones".
The Sonata confused contemporary critics who found it lacked cohesion. Robert Schumann suggested that Chopin had in this sonata "simply bound together four of his most unruly children."
3. Rhapsodie Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975)
狂想曲 马塞尔 格朗雅尼
Harp solo: Su Yi
竖琴独奏：苏 艺
Marcel Grandjany (1891-1975) was an exceptional performer and dedicated teacher, but what he loved most was composition. Having studied with Renie and Hasselmans at Paris Conservatoire (where he received Premier Prix in 1905), he moved to the United States in 1936 and became an American citizen in 1945. He gave annual concert tours in Europe, the USA and Canada from 1924-35, and played recitals until he was in his seventies. His influence on North American harp study was immense: he was head of the harp department at the Julliard School of Music (1938-75), the Conservatoire de Musique et d’Art Dramatique in Montreal, Quebec (1943-63) and the Manhattan School of Music (1956-66). He was one of the founders of the American Harp Society in 1962. As a composer, he cited many influences: harpist-composers Parish Alvars, Renie, Hasselmans; and composers Ducasse, Ravel, Debussy and Stravinsky. Grandjany was a pioneer in programming solo harp recitals. Since he felt there was not enough solo repertoire, he composed and arranged music to meet his needs. The Rhapsodie, written in 1921, was intended to be an opener for some of these recitals. The Rhapsodie’s melody is based on a Gregorian chant, Salve festa dies, used in the Roman Catholic service in France for Easter Saturday. Chant is sung freely and flowingly and that same character is evident in the Rhapsodie. Grandjany’s pedagogical writings are voluminous and so carefully edited (with fingerings as well as directions) that they serve as his unofficial method for harp.
4. Water net Shen Nalin
水 网 沈纳蔺
Soprano: Xingxing Wang
女高音：王荇荇
Violin: Claire Macfarlane
小提琴：克莱尔 麦克法兰
Violin: Bright Hu
小提琴：胡 光
Harp: Su Yi
竖 琴： 苏 艺
Cello: Charley Davenport
大提琴: 查理 达温珀特
"Water Net" was composed in 1984, based on a very attractive text by the famous lyricist Chen Feng. It describes in beautiful terms the scenery of the Sichuan countryside. At that time, I was with a TV crew working in Sichuan. I felt very pleased to find myself in the environment described in the poem and was thus motivated to compose this music.
5. Sweet bird from Oratorio “L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato” Handel (1685 - 1759)
甜 鸟 神剧《快乐的人、幽思的人、稳健的人》选段 韩德尔
Soprano: Xingxing Wang
女高音：王荇荇
Flute: Eshian Teo
长 笛：张贻轩（Eshian Teo)
Piano: Ling (Sonia) Green
钢 琴：项凌 格林（索尼娅）
Handel was one of the greatest Baroque composers. He was born in Germany; then to pursue his love in opera, he went to Italy and wrote many Italian cantatas, which perfected his technique in setting Italian words for the human voice. He was celebrated for his Italian operas written for London and then also for his oratorios there. After studying in Italy, he spent the rest of his life in England as a composer.
L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (HWV 55) is an ode by Handel written in 1740, with words by Charles Jennens based on the poetry of John Milton. The first two movements feature the dialogue between the personalized two poems by Milton: L'Allegro (the joyful man) and il Penseroso (the contemplative man). To wind up the ode Jennens added il Moderato the third movement which takes a character between those two. Sweet bird is sung by il Penseroso in the first movement, featuring the voice and flute imitating bird song.
Accompagnato
First, and chief, on golden wing,
The cherub Contemplation bring;
And the mute Silence hist along,
'Less Philomel will deign a song,
In her sweetest, saddest plight,
Smoothing the rugged brow of night.
Air
Sweet bird, that shun'st the noise of folly,
Most musical, most melancholy!
Thee, chauntress, oft the woods among,
I woo to hear thy even-song.
Or, missing thee, I walk unseen,
On the dry smooth-shaven green,
To behold the wand'ring moon
Riding near her highest noon.
6. Questioning the Mountains for violin and piano (2008) Gao Ping
问 山 高 平
Violin: Jun Bouterey-Ishido
小提琴：石堂 纯
Piano: Gao Ping
钢 琴： 高 平
“Questioning the Mountain” was commissioned by the Japanese violinist Rieko Suzuki with whom I have enjoyed a duo partnership for the last 3 years. It was written in June, 2008, immediately after the devastating earthquake in my home region of Sichuan.
The piece is a meditation on the tragic event and a nostalgic offering to my motherland. Its slow and procession-like unfolding suggests some kind of ritual; one that is at once somber and graceful.
A fragment from the Sichuan folksong “On the High Mountains” becomes a recurring motive, like an unanswered question, which at the end transforms into a repeating bass line that gives the foundation to a flourishing melisma in the high register of the piano. (Gao Ping)
INTERVAL
7. The Mountains for two piano (2004) Gao Ping
山 高 平
Piano: Gao Ping & Jun Bouterey-Ishido
钢 琴： 高 平、 石堂 纯
The composition for "The Mountain" began in Cincinnati, OH, and was completed in Christchurch, New Zealand, in October 2004. In summer 2003, I was asked by composer/pianist Frederic Rzewski and pianist Ursula Oppens to write a piece for them to perform together
During this time, I reread Gao Xingjian’s novel Soul Mountain. It was this experience which brought me new ideas, stemming ironically from my memories of my native home. Sichuan, China is a place rich with folklore and colorful cuisine. The dialect in Sichuan is my mother tongue and its melodic inflection is full of expressivity and humor. My melodic style in "The Mountain" is intrinsically connected to the sound of this spoken intonation.
In Gao Xingjian's novel, folk stories and shamanistic rituals play a colorful part in the largely stream-of-consciousness style narrative. Triggering my imagination and accessing deeply buried memories, I began to hear sounds that I couldn't otherwise hear. Other memories also emerged – seeing peasants carrying heavy loads of rice and vegetables on steep mountain paths. I associate this particular image with the Passacaglia in the center of the composition. The mood of "The Mountain" is nostalgic, though drama is certainly not excluded.
I dedicated this piece to Frederic Rzewski and Ursula Oppens whose collaboration gave rise to an important part of modern piano literature. Frederic and I gave the first performance in the Music’05 Festival, Cincinnati. (Gao Ping)
8. The Swan Saint-Saens (1835-1921)
天 鹅 圣 桑
Harp: Su Yi
竖 琴： 苏 艺
Cello: Charley Davenport
大提琴: 查理 达温珀特
Le Cygne or The Swan is the thirteenth movement of The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. The piece is in 6/4 time, with a key signature of G major. It makes use of legato and slurring, the music should flow like a swan gliding through the water. This piece is often played using much vibrato.
This is the only movement from the Carnival of the Animals that the composer would allow to be played in public during his lifetime as he thought the remaining movements were too frivolous and would damage his reputation as a serious composer.
9. Night Alley for solo piano (2006) 8 min Gao Ping
高 平
Piano: Gao Ping
钢 琴： 高 平
Night Alley was commissioned by the 4th China International Piano Competition (2007) as the compulsory work.
Sometimes, I hear familiar music unexpectedly – in a film, or in a night alley where diaphanous sounds pour out of someone’s home. Though the power this music has to affect me has long faded, it suddenly takes on a new meaning, texture, and color. These fragmented sounds, spreading like a fragrance or dream, complete themselves in my imagination, while also arousing in me myriad threads of thought.
Night Alley attempts to capture such an unpredictable and poetic realm.
In an essay called “The Class and Piano” by the artist Chen Dan-Qing, the author writes, “In Beijing, Shanghai, and Nan Jing, I had the fortune of several encounters with the piano souls of Bach and Chopin in the deep darkness of the commune corridors…strangely, listening to the renowned masters sitting in my dignified poses in the Lincoln Center or the Carnegie Hall is not as deliciously moving and enchanting as secretly enjoying music in the austere and unfamiliar domestic surroundings of a commune corridor, even if it is only from the first attempts of a young child.”
I can’t deny that I am also very fond of this kind of surprise or magic moment, which arises only from chance. One can never demand for this experience, one can only wait.
The work is commissioned by the 4th China International Piano Competition as the obligatory work. I have dedicated it to Madame Zhou Guang-Ren. (Gao Ping)
10. Improvisation on Sichuan folk song "high mountains" Gao Ping
即兴演奏 四川民歌主题 高山 高 平
Piano : Gao Ping
钢 琴： 高 平
11. Goin' Home Antonín Dvořák (1841 –1904)
念故乡 德沃夏克 安东尼
Soprano: Xingxing Wang
女高音：王荇荇
Piano: Gao Ping
钢 琴： 高 平
The melody for "Goin' Home" was written by Czech composer Antonin Dvorak in 1893 as part of his Symphony no. 9: From the New World. In the early 1890's, Dvorak was invited to teach for a four-year residency at the American Conservatory of Music in New York. Dvorak was very interested in "peasant music" when he lived in Prague, and when he came to America, that interest transferred over to what he referred to as "negro melodies." His copy assistant Harry Burleigh (an African-American) played a large role in introducing him to these folk songs. Dvorak began to promote the controversial idea that African-American music would be the future of America. He incorporated these musical themes into his own music. One of his students, William Arms Fisher, took his message to heart and began collecting, arranging, and publishing hundreds of African-American spirituals. He also wrote words to the Largo movement of Symphony no. 9, which became known as "Goin' Home".
"Goin' Home"
Going home, going home,
I'm just going home.
Quiet-like, slip away-
I'll be going home.
It's not far, just close by;
Jesus is the Door;
Work all done, laid aside,
Fear and grief no more.
Friends are there, waiting now.
He is waiting, too.
See His smile! See His hand!
He will lead me through.
Morning Star lights the way;
Restless dream all done;
Shadows gone, break of day,
Life has just begun.
Every tear wiped away,
Pain and sickness gone;
Wide awake there with Him!
Peace goes on and on!
Going home, going home,
I'll be going home.
See the Light! See the Sun!
I'm just going home.作者: dec05 时间: 2008-8-6 18:52:57
