2384860

7/23/2019 2384860

1/13

Wild Grass

Su (Tracing Back)

ZHOU LONGCHEN YI

7/23/2019 2384860

2/13

Introduction

After one of the sessions on this disc, members of the

Beijing New Music Ensemble invited Zhou Long for

baodu cow tripe boiled al denteand served with asalty sesame dip. He came, but preferred just to sit

and watch a motley crew many of us immigrants to

Beijing and some from far outside of China eat while

he smoked his pipe.

Zhous long view of history is always at work, and

I am sure he saw a poetic balance in our homely meal.Born and raised in Beijing, he was once a foreigner

experiencing New York City as an outsider. Now,

he was the visiting American, watching old Beijing

traditions stay alive. So went our recording sessions,

with Zhou at the helm, punctuated with snacks and

meals, and smoothed over with layers of cultural

exchange probably incomprehensible to any onlooker.

To Zhou, who had recently come from BBC

commissions and recordings, it must have felt like a

time-warp. The China Record Company is Old School

Beijing. Its alley-way studio has not changed, only

weathered, in the last three decades. Peeling acoustic

panels and stained carpet are palpable signs of its past.

For these world premire recordings none of us would

have wanted it differently. After all, Zhou Longs

professional composing life did not start in the United

States, but in the studios of Beijing in the 1980s.

present for this recording, but she and Zhou Long,

both composers, teaching colleagues, and marriage

partners, are used to taking turns and standing infor each other. The ensemble has benefited from

her frequent visits to Beijing, and her musical

consultations sound through clearly on this record.

This record would not have been possible

without the initial support of Sarina Tang and the

Currents Art and Music centre, one of Beijings fewnot-for-profit art spaces, which funded and hosted

the first collaboration between Zhou and the Beijing

New Music Ensemble in 2006. Many of these pieces

saw their China premires there, including the world

premire version of Wild Grassnarrated in Chinese by

Zhou Long himself.

Eli Marshall

7/23/2019 2384860

3/13

Zhou Long (b.1953)

Su (Tracing Back) Pianogongs Taiping Drum

Wild Grass Taigu Rhyme

A landmark study in translating traditional

instrument technique into a contemporary language,

Su (Tracing Back) has usually been performed

in the west in a version for harp and flute, but the

original piece was composed in 1984 for flute

and guqin at the request of the contemporary qin

scholar Wu Wenguang, writes Zhou. Since then,

Su (Tracing Back) has enjoyed an underground

reputation among guqin players of mainland China,

with generations of photocopies of the score and

bootleg cassettes from a sole master copy of a studio

recording at China Record Company passed along

over the last 24 years. This is the first worldwide

recording of the original version.

Taiping Drum

Written only a year earlier than Su (Tracing Back),

while Zhou was still a student, Taiping Drum employs

a different musical language. One can imagine a

nationwide audience enjoying a broadcast of the

work during Zhous years as composer-in-residence at

Radio Beijing. In a traditional rondo form employing

an introduction and two episodes, both instruments

frequently imitate the dan gu drum in free-tempo

passages. As Zhou states, the piece uses pentatonic

folk-tune material found in er ren tai, a form of duo

singing and dancing popular in northeast China

The Taiping drum (also called dan gu) is a percussion

instrument that originated in north-east China in

the Tang dynasty. Made from a single membrane

(16 x 20) in a round fan shape, the drum is held

in the left hand with iron rings linked under the

handle, while the right hand beats it with a piece of

rattan. Originally used by shamans Taiping Drum

became the name of a popular form of song and dance

among the Han people, as well as the Mongolian and

Manchurian ethnic groups today. While playing the

drum, the performer dances in rhythmic patterns.

Wild Grass

The evocative Wild Grassmay be performed by solo

cello, or viola, with or without vocal recitation fromthe foreword to Lu Xuns Wild Grass. Until recently

that text was always performed in English translation,

Pianogongs

Intended as a solo (the keyboard and two gong parts

together), Zhou Long changed his mind after hearing

violinist Gao Can improvise on percussion instruments

between takes, and invited him to record together

with Michelle Yip. Of the piece, Zhou writes: I have

used piano as a percussion instrument along with two

Chinese opera gongs (laid on a soft mat and placed

on top of the piano lip). The combination forms akind of per for min g f orc e of the Bei jin g O per a

percussion ensemble . The three main elements

7/23/2019 2384860

4/13

passages, seeking to capture the exultant quality of

the poem, with its refrain...

Foreword

When silent, I feel content; when moved to speak, I feel

empty inside.

The past life has perished. Its death inspires joy in me,

because it means it once survived. A dead life has decayed.

This decay inspires joy in me, because it means it has not

yet vanished.

Lifes waste, cast on earth, does not give rise to tall trees,

but does bring forth wild grass, my indulgence.

Wild grass has no deep roots, no pretty flowers; but it

absorbs dew, and water. It consumes the flesh and blood

of the laid-out dead, while all try to rob it of its own

existence. Throughout its life, it is trampled, or cut away,until it dies and decays.

But I am unmoved. I am joyful. I will laugh aloud, and

sing.

I revere my wild grass, yet the ground I loathe, which

merely decorates itself.

Wildfires spread underground, and surge; once molten

lava gushes forth, it will consume all wild grasses, and

even combust the trees and nothing will be left to decay

laugh or sing. In light and dark, through life and death,

past and future, to friend and enemy, to man and beast, to

the loved and unloved, to all I offer this bit of wild grass

as witness.

For myself, friend and foe, man and beast, for the lovedand unloved, I look to the impending decay of these wild

grasses. If it does not come, it is as if I never existed and

that is a fortune far worse than death and decay.

Go on, wild grass, follow my foreword!

26 April, 1927

Lu Xun, Baiyun Estate, Guangzhou(translated by Eli Marshall, 2009)

Taigu Rhyme

Lu Xun, like many of his generation, enjoyed many

years in Japan, but when he died in 1936, it was on thecusp of a new era Japans invasion and occupation of

China. To this day relations between the two cultures

are strained.

Taigu Rhyme, for clarinet, violin, cello, and three

traditional drummers, was written for a Concert of

Remembrance and Reconciliation initiated by the

Bridge of Souls organization in 2001 and performed

in 2003 by the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota

and Theater Mu, a Japanese Taiko ensemble.

Zhous artistic basis of the piece is an imagined

7/23/2019 2384860

5/13

drummers on the chu (medium drum) and odaiko

(large drum) beating a slow rhythmic pattern. The

middle section is inspired by ancient Zhihua temple

music from Beijing. The clarinet evokes the sound

of the guanzi, a double reed instrument used in the

temple ensemble, with a singing melody accompaniedby a haunting free-tempo ritual atmosphere in the

ensemble. The last section breaks in with a return to

the opening motifs and a vivid tempo drives the work

to the end.

Chen Yi (b.1953)

Monologue Romance of Hsiao and Ch inChinese Ancient Dances

Monologue (Impressions on The True

Story of Ah Q)

And this was all an introduction, is how the narrator

of Lu Xuns True Story of Ah Qends the lengthy gal-lows-farce. From there Chen Yi picks up with what she

calls a meditation of introspection on what might

have happened to Lus most famous antihero, a two-

bit, semi-anonymous loser known only as Q.

Keith Lipson, who plays here, gave the Chinese

premire of the piece. This, and Zhous composition

Wild Grass, were given their premire together at a

concert The World of Lu Xunin 1993 in Birmingham.

R f H i d Ch i

nature. The piece became the first movement of the

duet Romance and Dance, but was first conceived

as a violin duo with string orchestra, given its first

performance by Shlomo Mintz and Elmar Oliveira

and the Orchestra of St. Lukes, conducted by Yehudi

Menuhin in New York. The violin-piano duet wasgiven its China premire by Gao Can and Michelle

Yip, who perform here.

Chinese Ancient Dances

Each of the two movements in Chen Yis Chinese

Ancient Dances evokes a different historical time period.The maowu(Ox Tail dance) was a preparatory ritual

of the Zhou Dynasty, employing props of feathers

and ox-tails. The huxuandance was one of the most

popular dances depicted on art of the late sixth to the

late eighth century, during the Tang Dynasty. This

foreign whirling dance performed on a mat was

probably introduced into China from Sogdia, but theearliest origins of both the maowu and huxuan are

unknown. Keith Lipson and Michelle Yip gave the

Chinese premire of the piece.

Chen Yi and Zhou Long

Chen Yi and Zhou Long were trained side-by-side

in Beijing at the Central Conservatory, and in New

York at Columbia University and are now partners

on the faculty at the Conservatory of the University

of Missouri Kansas City. They are also married to

7/23/2019 2384860

6/13

of the prestigious Charles Ives Living Award from

the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her

music is published by Theodore Presser Company,

commissioned and performed world-wide by such

ensembles as the Cleveland Orchestra and the New

York Philharmonic, recorded on BIS, New Albion, CRI,Teldec, Angle, Nimbus, Albany, New World, Quartz,

Koch & China Record Co., among others. She has been

elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in

2005, and appointed the Changjiang Scholar Professor

at the CCOM by the China Ministry of Education in

2006, which has brought her to Beijing for intensive

residencies with young composers the last three years.Zhou Long was born in Beijing in 1953. Following

graduation from the Central Conservatory in 1983,

was appointed composer-in-residence with the China

National Broadcasting Symphony. Zhou has received

fellowships from the NEA, and the Guggenheim

and Rockefeller Foundations, the Mary Cary Trust and

the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. He has been therecipient of commissions from the Koussevitzky and

the Fromm Music Foundations, Meet the Composer,

Chamber Music America, and ensembles around the

world. He is the recipient of the 2003 Academy Award in

Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

During the 2008-09 season, Zhou has been working on a

flute concerto for the California Pacific and SingaporeSymphonies, a new chamber work for PRISM Saxo-

phone Quartet with Chinese instruments, and will start

his first opera co commissioned by the Opera Boston

Beijing New Music Ensemble

The Beijing New Music Ensemble is the only

independent musical ensemble dedicated to new

music in China. Since 2005 the ensemble has been

presenting chamber music in a revolutionary way

(Macao Daily). A young, vibrant group of diversebackgrounds, the ensemble has performed across

greater China and in South Korea, in concert halls,

bars, universities, and art spaces, and was featured

on BBC Radio Three in the summer of 2008. Often

collaborating with musicians of traditional Chinese

backgrounds, BNME has created a grassroots forum

for contemporary music in Beijing and, in three years,has presented over three dozen China premires

to growing audiences. This is the dbut CD of the

ensemble.

Wu Na (Special guest, guqin)

Nikola Atanasov, fluteMichelle Yip,piano, Gao Can, luo

Gao Can, violin, Michelle Yip,piano

Keith Lipson, clarinet

Gao Can, violin, Michelle Yip,piano

Keith Lipson, clarinet, Michelle Yip,piano

Zhou Long, narrator, Zhao Xuyang, cello

Keith Lipson, clarinet, Gao Can, violin,Zhao Xuyang, cello

Special guests on percussion:

Li Congnong Ma Rui Chen Bingye

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

Track 4

Track 5

Track 6-7

Track 8

Track 9-11

7/23/2019 2384860

7/13

Currents-

2006

7/23/2019 2384860

8/13

1953

1984

MichelleYip

.

2006

7/23/2019 2384860

9/13

2001

Bridge of Souls

2003Chamber MusicSociety of MinnesotaTheater Mu

chu()(odaiko)

1953

Q

QQ

Keith Lipson1993

-

Yehudi Menuhin

7/23/2019 2384860

10/13

()(Sogdia)

1

234

567

89

7/23/2019 2384860

11/13

1953

BIS, New Albion, CRI, Teldec, Angle,Nimbus, Albany, New World, Quartz, Koch& China2005

1953 1983

MaryCary

(Aaron Copland),

,(Chamber

Music America)20032008-09

PRISM

2010

7/23/2019 2384860

12/13

2005

Photo: Kendra Fehr

(): :Back row from left to right: Gao Can, Michelle Yip. Front row from left to right: Zhu Mu, Keith Lipson, Nikola Atanasov, Eli Marshall


7/23/2019 2384860

13/13

DDD

8.570604

&

2009

NaxosRightsInternationalLtd.

BookletnotesinEnglish&Chinese

MadeinHongKong

www

.naxos.com

Playing Time

52:05

8

.570604

8

.570604

CHINESE CLASSICS

Trained side-by-side in Beijing at the Central Conservatory, and in New York at ColumbiaUniversity, Chen Yi, the first woman to receive a masters degree in composition in China, andZhou Long are now partners on the faculty at the University of Missouri Kansas City. Despite theclose ties, their compositions enjoy distinct identities, frequently bringing into fascinating

juxtaposition Western and Eastern instruments as well as traditional and contemporarycompositional techniques. The Beijing New Music Ensemble is the only independent musicensemble dedicated to new music in China. This is its dbut recording.

7

47313

06047

4

ZHOULONGCHENYI:WildG

rass

Su (Tracing Back) (version forflute an d qin)Pianogongs (for piano and luo)

Taiping Drum (for violin and

piano)

Monologue (Impression on

4:50Romance of Hsiao and Ch in

3:29

Chinese Ancient Dances

II. Hu Xuan Dance 2:27

Wild Grass (for narrator

and cello)

Taigu Rhyme (for clarinet,

violin, cello and percussion)

I. II.

III.

I. Ox Tail Dance

5:20

7:26

6:58

7:58

5:44

5:52

2:47

3:14

(version for violin and piano)

The True Story of Ah Q)

Producer: Zhou Long Associate Producer: Eli Marshall Engineer & Editor: Shen Yuan Zhi Recorded at the China RecordCompany, Beijing, China, 10th, 14th and 15th September, 2007 Booklet Notes: Eli Marshall Cover Image: Yecaoby

Shao Yan Photography by Kendra Fehr Technical assistance: Alexander Beels Chinese language editing: Patrick P. Lee

and Joanna C. Lee Publishers: Oxford University Press (Zhou Long); Theodore Presser Company (Chen Yi) Special thanksto Alexander Beels, Joshua Kidwell (Lighting Design), violin maker Shen Fei (for lending his Huang Shan violin) andJudith Mann Recording of this disc supported in part by the generosity of the M. Ng Fang Chou Memorial Foundation

Please see pages 6 and 10 for a complete list of the performers

ZHOULONG

CHENYI:WildGrass

ZHOU LONG CHEN YIWild Grass

Zhou Long (b. 1953):

Chen Yi (b. 1953)

Zhou Long:


8:11

11:53

DDD

8.570604

&

2009

NaxosRightsInternationalLtd.

BookletnotesinEnglish&Chinese

MadeinG

ermany

www

.naxos.com

Playing Time

56:04

8

.570604

8

.570604

CHINESE CLASSICS

7

47313

06047

4

2384860

Documents