PROGRAM:

☉ Xi Yang Xiao Gu (Flute and drum music at sunset)Classical (Civil)

 

A hand-written score for this pipa piece first appeared in 1875 with seven untitled sections.  It was later discovered with subtitles among Chen Zijing's hand-written collection of pipa music in 1898.  The present score, having ten sections with subtitles, is taken from Li Fangyuan's New Collections, 1895.  This composition is of the "civil" style of pipa music.

1. The Sound of Bells and Drums from a Distant Temple along the River.

2. Moon on the Eastern Mountain.

3. Breeze over the Quiet Water.

4. Shadows of Flowers.

5. Clouds and Water Far Away Become as One.

6. A fishman's Song in the Evening.

7. Waves Lapping at the Shore.

8. The Returning Boat.

 

☉ Dragon Boat —Traditional (arr.  A Bing)

Dragon boat is a folk melody that is popular in Jiangsu Province in eastern China.  The musician A-Bing adapted it for pipa. Throughout the piece, the pipa is used to imitate the sound of both the percussion and singing styles of the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. Four small sections intersect and are woven together using both percussive and melodic passages.

 A-Bing (1893-1950) was the son of a Daoist priest. He studied various Chinese instruments under his father’s tutelage. In his twenties, A-Bing lost his sight and had to make a living playing music on the streets, winning recognition (and coins) for the quality of his performances. He left us with three pieces--this piece, Dragon Boat, for pipa and three pieces for erhu (Chinese 2-stringed fiddle).

☉ Xu Lai (Meditation) (1929)—Liu Tianhua

Liu Tianhua was a twentieth century intellectual, composer, and musician who tried to formalize and modernize the study and performance of traditional Chinese music, sometimes with ideas borrowed from the West.  The music of this piece conjures up the image of a person seated by a window in the emptiness and stillness of the night, lost in meditation.

☉ Music from Kyrgyzstan (2004)—Nurlanbek Nyshanov

Nyshanov is a composer and musician, who lives in Kyrgyzstan. He wrote this special piece during the Silk Road Project residence program in Boston 2003.

☉ Dance of the Yi  People (1960)—Wang Huiran

This dance piece is an arrangement based on folk tunes of the Yi minority people who live in southwestern China.  It shows off the pipa’s virtuosic techniques such as tremolo, strumming, sliding notes, and harmonics.  The music evokes intoxicating nights on the mountainside with lively dancing and the joyous gathering of young people.

☉ San Liu (Three six )—Traditional

San Liu is a popular folk tune from Shanghai area.  I is often played with a small ensemble at tea houses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-H4uMMRuKU&feature=player_embedded#!

☉ Night Thoughts (2005)—Wu Man

Inspired by the 12th Century pipa paintings from the Dun Huang caves in Gansu Province, Western China.

☉ Collage (2000)—Wu Man
Performed in the martial style, Collage is a structured improvisational piece inspired by the classic solo pipa repertoire.  The martial style is very dramatic and imitative and can be  recognizied by the quick and ferocious way in which the strings are strummed making the pipa sound more like an electric guitar and less like an ancestor of the lute.

The Program is without intermission