Live Concerts

Trio Memory of Venice

Memory of Venice was composed for clarinet, violin, and piano from July to September, 2010. On my traveling in Venice in June, 2010, the fluctuation of my mood was recorded by this work.

I have a special feeling about water since my childhood perhaps because of the word “sea” in my first name. When I was a young girl, I had a dream of traveling in Venice someday. I can still remember boats sailed on the water of Venice when I watched TV at my young age. Since then I have dreamed to be there to see the drifting boat in Venice. However, it is too far away to get there for a little girl in a village in China twenty years ago.

My childhood dream to be Venice has finally become true in June, 2010 due to the premier of my flute quartet Underwater World in Cortona Italy. I attended the Contemporary Music Seminar and International Music Festival there as a Chinese-American young composer. Walking out from the Venezia Santa Lucia station in Venice, my whole mind was enveloped in this water wonderland. I am deeply in the mood of romance, blurring, and a little sadness. I can see the golden stave reflected on the water wave. Every tourist on river banks looks like a note of my musical composition. The harmony of composition is weaved out by the colorful buildings and slowly drifting boats. I could even hear the piano arpeggios from the wind blowing through drifting boats. A beautiful soft rhythm is created by the interaction between the swinging gondolas (transportation on water in Venice) and a variety of small arch-bridges on land. The melody of shaking waves sounds like the combination of beautiful and sad violin and whimpering and sighing clarinet. I am so excited about the water wonderland Venice. I love the fantastic Venice.

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String Quartet Fishing in floating bluish green waves.

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Duet for Flute and Clarinet

The duet for flute and clarinet, reflects the beauty, breath, and verve of Confucianism, the softness of Taoism, and the meditation of Buddhism. Through syncretism, there emerges a unity of these three religions and cultures. Duet for Flute and Clarinet contains a realization of human life and the universe, interprets ancient philosophy, and aspires toward the perfection of harmony. This piece expresses an elegant mien, unbridled verve, transcendent peace, and fleeting fantasyland.

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Quintet Sound of Wind (Live Concert)

Sound of Wind represents the mystical sights and sounds that flow in nature. Many artists have tackled these themes before but, like Picasso’s creations, I seek to express them through the abstraction of my imagination.

I Wind:
Here a light and refreshing wind creates the feeling of purity. A delicate morning fragrance emerges from the leaves and petals. A strain of loneliness is set in motion.

II Stream:
The wind passes over a stream and gives rise to an easy smile. The spring water dances, refracting green light.

III Raven:
A dark wind ruffles the black feathers of a sitting raven. Several more circle until a murder is formed. The flapping of their wings aggravates the turbid wind. A desperate struggle elicits a plaintive wail. Our raven lies bleeding.

IV Voile:
Late evening wind kisses the glass causing the gossamer curtains to ripple. Naked lovers cuddle in bed, intermingling with the moonlight. Silence reveals deep love.

V Breeze:
My steps progress along the city streets; a breeze washes over my face. I walk confident, joyous at what I have and what lies ahead.

VI Swing:
A toddler sits on a wood swing and plays. His parents take turns pushing their joy, each thrust a bit higher. They stand back while he undulates to keep the height. His lack of experience causes him to fall. He looks at his boo-boo and says, "Uh oh!"

VII Flame:
The enveloping of wind and passion ignites a flame of hope. The heat, our energy, emboldens us to greater heights. The sound of wind yells: life immortal.

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Woodwind Quartet Dance of Differing Languages (Live Concert)

I was born in China. My mother who speaks Sichuan dialect is from Sichuan province in the middle of China, and my father who speaks Cantonese is from Guangdong in the south of China. The Sichuan dialect sounds totally different than Cantonese, and neither of my parents speaks each other’s language. As a student at the public school, I have been required to speak official Chinese language Mandarin. Therefore, I have naturally practiced three different Chinese languages which are in three distinct tones at the same time from a young age. After I moved to the United States, I had to master English. English sounds smoother and more fluent while Chinese has more cadences in speaking. I also had an opportunity to learn German during my residency in Berlin 2008-09 when I attended the composition class at the Freie Universität Berlin. All this made me recognize the distinct tones of different languages, and has brought me gorgeous pitch sense and harmonic color in my ears. For my ears, the Sichuan dialect has a lower tone, close to the Bassoon timbre. Unlike the silvery Sichuan language and Mandarin, which is sent out from the tip of the teeth, Cantonese has a deep resonant tone, which is sent out from the throat. Thus, I feel the Cantonese sounds similar to the Clarinet. The timbre of Mandarin, closer to Oboe, sounds higher than both Sichuan and Cantonese. The mellifluent timbre of English and German is similar to the timbre of Flute. I have imagined that I was hearing the Sichuan dialect, Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and German at the same time, which generated the motive and the melody of my woodwind quartet Dance of Differing Languages for flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon. When I was composing this piece, I could hear the conversation between my father and mother, the Chinese lectures of my teachers, the presentations of American professors, and the talk of my German friends. This work describes people who from around the world are speaking different languages at the same time, while singing and dancing together. This exemplifies the integration of cultures and nations and peace in the world.

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Flute Quartet Sea World (Live Concert)

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String Trio The Dream of Berlin (Live Concert)

I once traveled to Berlin seeking to reinvent my creative prowess; yet, I knew not how such inspiration should come about.  Berlin itself ultimately became an extraordinary influence over my emotional and creative capacities.  I wrote this work to complement the emotional diversity I felt whirling about this great city.  A lot of the music is very aggressive and full of vitality as is reflected in the astonishing and looming art and architecture that always surrounded me. And then I found fear in being in a land where I don’t speak the language yielding elusive passages that use the harmonics playing skill to stress the romantic sense.  However, the piece finally graduates faster and faster in rhythm, ending in a triumphant tempo.  This is the way I dreamt being there.

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Two Pieces for Solo Cello

Introduction (Play sample)   First (Play sample)   Second (Play sample)
These two pieces for solo cello have two movements. I mixed two of my dreams in this piece. The lands of these dreams are all out of the earth. The first dream starts from boundless and quiet grassland, and this grassland is enveloped in the morning mist. I am the only person who lives in reverie land and I have a very lonely feeling. I hope I can touch the first stream of light from the earth through my imaginary window and I can go back to the real world without being lonely. The second dream starts in a world of darkness, and my feeling is pensive and anguished. There is only the moon with me the whole day and whole night. I couldn't see or hear anything besides the shadow and tears of the moon. The only thing I could do in that darkness is to go to catch the shadow and dewdrops of the moon and turn them into each of my notes.

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Nine Little Pieces for Solo Clarinet (Play sample)

These very short, very quick nine little pieces for solo Clarinet methodically describe the dramatic emotional transformations a person may experience in the length of a single day.  The first five pieces climb, 1st from the Romantic expression, 2nd through Happiness, 3rd through Sadness, 4th through Anger, and 5th into the Silent stage.  Then, the sixth through ninth pieces fall into retrograde, where the 6th returns to Anger, the 7th to Sadness, the 8th to Happiness, and the 9th ultimately completing the return to the Romantic.

The compositional structure of these nine little pieces also parallels the emotional scheme.  In accomplishing this, the fourth and sixth pieces of "Angry" emotion use exactly the same notes and dynamics, with the sixth becoming the retrograde version of the fourth.  The notes and dynamics of the seventh piece are inversions of the third piece, the seventh being in a different key in the lower register.  The eighth piece is in the higher register, with notes and dynamics being retrograded inversions of the second piece.  The ninth piece finally returns, now in the dominant key respective to the first piece. The whole piece creates a circular symmetry of emotional dramatics.

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Four-Voice Fugue for Clarinet, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Marimba, Piano and Violin

Introduction (Play sample)   Performance (Play sample)

The form of this E minor four-voice Fugue incorporates an Eastern theme where Western fugue form brings counterpoint to Eastern tradition. There are 18 small sections and each section has its own orchestration design. Some parts of this piece are orchestrated in a similar fashion to Anton von Webern's orchestration of Bach's "Ricercare a 6" from the "Music Offering." In that orchestration, the main lines of the contrapuntal are orchestrated in such a way that the beginning of a line would start in one instrument and the remainder of the line would finish in another, complimentary instrument.  This piece begins with all instruments playing parts of different parts of the theme and ultimately ends as it builds up by adding instruments with all playing the same design.

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