A Dream of Red Mansions
Ssu-Yu Huang
About this work:
This piece was a commissioned work, which was world-premiered in Kyoto, Japan on April 24, 1999, performed by Motoko Fujiie (violin), Daisuke Suzuki (guitar), and Nobuaki Nakata (double bass). On August 8, 2000 it was selected by the 21st Conference of the Asian Composers League in Yokohama, Japan and performed by Yukiko Teraoka (violin), Norio Satoh (guitar), and Koji Akaike (double bass). On August 30, 2005 it was performed at the Kaohsiung Music Hall by Mang-Lin Hsiao (violin), Keishi Sumi (guitar), and Yong-Pei Pan (double bass).
Program note
It was inspired by one of the seminal Chinese novels "A Dream of Red Mansions", written by Hsueh-Chin Tsao during the reign of Emperor Chien-Lung of the Chin Dynasty. This piece is base on the romance between the story figures Bao-Yu and Dai-Yu, which has a tragic ending. Seven sections were composed to high-light the story:
The spiritual stone is too bemused to grasp the fairy's riddles (beginning section).
In the Grand View Garden (measures 2-40).
A song awakens Bao-Yu to the esoteric truth (measures 41-55).
On the Feast of the Lanterns (measures 56-84).
Dai-Yu weeps over fallen blossoms (measures 85-98).
Bao-Yu's birthday celebration (measures 99-151).
Flowers wither and fall (measure 151-end).
Version: Ensemble
Year composed: 1999
Duration: 00:14:55
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: 1 Violin, 1 Double bass, 1 Guitar (Classical/Acoustic)