About this work:
Chen Yi
Impressions From Chinese Zodiac
-- A suite for saxophone solo (2022)
(Transposed Score for B-flat Soprano Saxophone or E-flat Alto Saxophone)
1. Roster singing out in the morning
2. Monkey jumping around in the forest
3. Tiger walking down from the mountain
Commissioned by The Juilliard School for Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program, Impressions From Chinese Zodiac – A suite for saxophone solo was written for saxophone solo in 2022. It consists of three independent movements featuring different musical characteristics with various performing techniques. The inspiration of the music came from the impression of three animal signs (roster, monkey, and tiger), which are among the twelve in the Chinese Zodiac.
The first piece started with a repeated phrase in imitation of roster’s loud singing in the morning (the pitch with flutter tongue sounds like the noise from the roster’s throat), followed by phrases of a pentatonic melody drawn from The Sun Is Rising With Our Joy, a Chinese folk song in Sichuan province. There are descending passages, which simulate the drop down sound from the singing. Each passage is different from others, each of which should be played accurately and smoothly. The melody is moved up a step with variation, followed by an echo of the roster singing at the end of the piece. Now the sky is bright, so the tune is fourth steps up!
The second piece includes two Chinese folk songs: Thinking of My Darling (Shanxi province) and Guessing (Yunnan province). Both have large interval skips that span different registers as well as microtonal intervals in their original singing, which show the characteristics of the regional musical languages respectively. The tone colors should be matched when registers are changed. The microtonal pitches (quarter-tone flat or three quarter-tone flat) could be done with bend tone by lips. The image is the monkey jumping around lively and the music is played humorously. The high and long pitch with yelling down effect at the end of the piece brings the music to an exciting peak.
The third piece features the figure of tiger, which is strong and brave, with accented tones in the lowest register. The first 3-pitch motive is developed throughout the piece, while a peristaltic chromatic material is formed in various shapes and directions, to show the gestures of a mighty and fierce image. To get used to a designed fingering for the chromatic passages and the trills (half-step and whole-step), along with all precisely notated articulations, and the technique of tongue slap and key clicks, are the basic goal to achieve in this piece.