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Poems from Tang (1995)
Zhou Long:
"Poems from Tang for string quartet was commissioned jointly by the Ciompi, Chester, and Shanghai string quartets, made possible by a grant from the Meet the Composer/Reader's Digest Commissioning Program, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. The work was given its first performances by these three quartets in their 1995-96 season in various locations.
"Poems from Tang consists of four movements inspired by the works of four poets of the Tang dynasty. Unlike the preceding folk traditions in which thematic material relied heavily on magic and spiritualism, Tang dynasty arts were more cultivated and intellectual. Tang poets created distinguished new literary forms within an ancient civilization.
"In Poems from Tang, I have conceived of the string quartet as an expanded ch'in, an ancient seven-string Chinese zither. Throughout the piece there are musical traits directly reminiscent of ancient China: sensitive melodies, expressive glissandi in various statements, and, in particular, a peculiarly Chinese undercurrent of tranquility and meditation.
"The first movement is based on the poem 'Hut Among the Bamboo' by Wang Wei (701-761):
Sitting among bamboos alone,
I play my lute and croon carefree.
In the deep woods where I'm unknown,
Only the bright moon peeps at me.
"The poet describes himself sitting in a bamboo grove. He has given himself over to playing with abandon on his ch'in. He feels dissatisfied, as if his music is somehow incomplete. Looking up toward the sky, he is suddenly inspired to howl and this spontaneous expression delights him. Against patters of silence punctuated by quiet harmonic clusters we hear the improvisatory music-making of the poet. The movement begins quietly, with the quartet using mutes. The low, sustained tones of the cello and high harmonics of the other strings create an eerie feeling of space and emptiness, suggesting the depths and isolation of the secluded wood in which the poet finds himself. The harmonic motive, occasionally accompanied by high-pitched tremolo or pizzicato passages and sharply accented pinging sounds, depicts the quiving leaves of the bamboo and other sounds of the forest. The tempo at first is marked grave / largo, but as the poet adds his lusty howling, represented by descending glissando clusters in the strings, the tempo picks up. First andantino / moderato, then even faster, the accelerando depicts the passion and intensity with which the poet enjoys his improvised vocalizing. The movement ends in the tempo and mood with which it began.
"The second movement is based on a poem titled 'Old Fisherman' by Liu Zongyuan (773-819), a government official and outstanding thinker and writer during the middle of the Tang dynasty. He was removed from his post for advocating reform, but he never became despondent. He traveled to the mountains and valleys in southwestern China, creating many excellent works. In the 'Old Fisherman' he wrote:
The old fisherman moors at night by western cliffs;
At dawn, draws water from the clear
Xiang, lights a fire with southern bamboo.
Mists melt in the morning sun, and the man is gone;
Only the song reverberates in the green of the hills and waters.
Look back; the horizon seems to fall into the stream;
And clouds float aimlessly over the cliffs.
"I was beginning to sketch out the third movement when I arrived for a residency at the Rockfeller Foundation's Bellagio Center on Lake Como. From morning to evening I heard bells ringing from neighboring churches and villages, echoing off the surrounding mountains and the water. The sounds haunted me and reminded me of a verse from 'Hearing the Monk Xun Play the Qin' by Li Bai (701-762):
I seem to hear the moaning of pine trees as if through ten thousand valleys.
My wayfaring heart is cleansed by the flowing stream;
Its soft cadence, lingering still,
Fuses into distant chiming of a frost-cold bell ...
"The movement opens with the quartet playing harmonic chords to simulate the sounds of the bells; pizzicato is used to suggest the effect of sounds echoing off the mountains and the lake. As if originating at different heights, the bell sounds rise in the trees. While the tremolo in the strings suggests the moaning of the wind in the pines, the varying pitch and dynamics of the instruments create an effect of oscillating sound waves coming closer to and receding from the listener. The movement is in the form of a rondo and ends with the sounds seeming to dissolve into the distance.
"The fourth movement is based on Du Fu's 'Song of Eight Unruly Tipsy Poets'. In this long poem, Du Fu (712-770) provides humorous and affectionate descriptions of the drunken behavior of eight famous poets, all friends of his. He described the images of his drunk fellow poets as:
Unrestrained, undisciplined, humorous and eloquent;
Riding on the horse, faltering steps in enjoyment;
Drawing on the paper, spattering ink as dancing dragon;
Howling toward the sky, citing poems, feeling indignant ...
"The movement is in the form of a scherzo. I have written a rhythmic motive for the quartet. The movement begins ad libitum, but as the poets drink more and more, the tempo increases first to andantino and then to allegro, fast and wild at its climax, the point at which the poets are completely uninhibited and 'unruly.' The movement ends with eight identical fortissimo chords, one for each poet. The chords are separated by eight measures of rest, during which we hear the faltering sounds of the quartet, representing these by now very drunken poets, who try harder and harder to recite until eventually, despite themselves, they collapse into silence."
Zhou Long (b. 1953) has created a body of music that brings together elements of Eastern and Western musical techniques. Grounded in the folk, philosophical, and spiritual ideals of his Chinese heritage, Zhou transfers the idiomatic sounds and techniques of ancient Chinese musical traditions to modern Western instruments and ensembles.
Zhou Long was born into an artistic family and began piano lessons at an early age. During the Cultural Revolution he was sent to work on a rural state farm; he resumed his musical training in 1973, studying, composition, theory, conducting, and Chinese traditional music. Four years later Zhou enrolled in the first composition class at the reopened Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China. Following graduation in 1983, he was appointed composer-in-residence with the National Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra of China. Zhou came to the United States in 1985 to attend Columbia University, studying with Chou Wen-chung, Mario Davidovsky, and George Edwards. He is currently on faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music.
For more than a decade, Zhou has served as music director of the Music from China ensemble in New York City, for which he received an ASCAP Adventurous Programming Award in 1999. Other honors include a lifetime achievement award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, CalArts Alpert Award, Masterprize, and grants and commissions from Chamber Music America, Meet the Composer, and the Fromm, Guggenheim, Koussevitzky, and Rockefeller Foundations. Zhou has received commissions from a number of international orchestras as well as the New Music Consort, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Chester, Ciompi, Kronos, Shanghai, and Vanbrugh String Quartets, and the vocal ensemble Chanticleer. In May 2002 he was composer-in-residence of the Seattle Symphony's Silk Road Project Festival with cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Zhou Long's music has been recorded on the Avant, Bis, Cala, China Record Corporation, CRI, Delos, EMI, Teldec, and Warner Classics labels.
related websites
http://www.us.oup.com/us/corporate/publishingprograms/music/music/composers/zhou
Formed at the Shanghai Conservatory in China in 1983, the Shanghai Quartet is renowned for its performances of Western classical repertoire alongside Eastern-influenced works commissioned by composers such as Bright Sheng and Zhou Long. The group tours Europe and North America regularly and has performed in major cities in Asia as well. Musicians who have collaborated with the quartet include Yo-Yo Ma, Eugenia Zukerman, Sharon Isbin, and Ruth Laredo. Currently in residence at Montclair State University in New Jersey and the University of Richmond in Virginia, the quartet has recorded extensively on the Delos International label as well as on Arabaseque and Bis.
related websites
http://shanghaiquartet.com
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