Gateways (2017-2019)
Chamber orch 2017-18/full orch 2019
Double concerto for erhu, piano and orchestra
1. a letter to home
2. slow fires
3. games
Commissioned by the Piano and Erhu Project
Duration: 25 min
Instrumentation: solo erhu, solo piano and chamber orchestra (full orchestra version also available)
In writing Gateways, a double concerto written for PEP (Piano and Erhu Project), I wrestled for some time with how I might address the issue of ‘East meets West’, especially given the solo instruments’ highly distinct and disparate sonic characteristics, performance practices and musical traditions. Gradually, the piece evolved from a patchwork of musical fragments, moments and memories gathered from my own multicultural experiences as a first-generation Chinese-American, a Western expatriate living in Taiwan and later, an immigrant to Canada. Each place I’ve lived in has been home at one point, yet in each setting I always identified as the outsider. I explore this sense of otherness in the concerto by incorporating musical materials that are purposefully borrowed from various musical languages, cultures or time periods. Woven into the three movements are references to a Chinese pop song, a children’s musical rhyme, opulent Romanticism, minimalism, and other influences both subtle and apparent.
The lyrical and flowing opening movement, “a letter to home”, features a primary theme built upon the first five notes of a Chinese pop song of the same title. Popular during the 1990’s when I was an exchange student in Nanjing, China, the tune is reframed here within a context that shows influences of Ravel, Stravinsky and American minimalism.
The title of the nostalgic second movement borrows from the library term “slow fire”, which refers to the gradual embrittlement of paper resulting from acid decay. The visual inspiration behind this movement is the handful of old, faded and yellowed photographs and letters that are the only remaining artifacts from my Chinese heritage. This idea of decay extends to memory and to my connection to the past and to my family’s cultural roots, reflected in the music with a slow, haunting erhu melody that slightly detunes in places, and consonant harmonies with Chopin-esque gestures that either melt into or intensify with chromatic dissonance.
The final movement, “Games”, is rhythmic and angular, sweeping through a variety of characters ranging from whimsical to furious. The erhu and piano initially alternate short statements based on a simple tune remembered from my childhood. Gradually the playful motive transforms in numerous ways as the alternating statements continue to grow, develop, and eventually engage the entire orchestra.
The concerto’s title “Gateways” refers to a line from a Tang dynasty poem that depicts a gateway as both an opportunity and a barrier, evoking a deep yearning for a faraway time, place or memory:
Movement 1, excerpt
Movement 2, excerpt
“Heaven is high, earth wide; bitter between them flies my sorrow.
Can I dream through the gateway, over the mountain?”
