About this work:
CHEN YI
Introduction, Andante and Allegro for orchestra (2018) [19 minutes]
First Movement: Introduction
Second Movement: Andante
Third Movement: Allegro
I.
Instrumentation:
2 flutes (2nd = piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (2nd = bass clarinet), 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani (doubling triangle and tam-tam), 2 percussion (I. glockenspiel, marimba, xylophone, suspended cymbal, and Japanese high woodblock; II. suspended cymbal and bass drum) and strings
Commissioned by the Seattle Symphony, Ludovic Morlot, Music Director, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Gustavo Dudamel, Music & Artistic Director, the orchestral work Introduction, Andante and Allegro is premiered by the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall on Feb. 6, 2019 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, USA.
The three-movement work is inspired by two sacred animals in Chinese legend: the black xuanwu (a combination of turtle and snake in one) and the white tiger in the mountain. The first movement, Introduction is from tranquil to vivid and energetic, with a pentatonic motivic material drawn from Chinese folk music Old Eight Beat (B, E, A, G in Rehearsal Mark E) and its inversion (F, C, G, A from the beginning), which is expanded to a bold melody in Peking Opera music style. The sonority in the second movement, Andante is dark, mysterious and imaginative in a boundless space. With a strong contrast, the characteristic in the third movement, Allegro is dramatic, witted, and powerful, with a developing ostinato that keeps growing towards a brilliant finale.