Song of the Ch'in
Zhou Long
About this work: (Published by Oxford University Press)
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Song of the Ch’in won the first prize in the Chinese National Composition Competition in 1985. This work from Zhou Long’s earlier period was inspired and influenced by the music of his mentor, Professor Chou Wen-chung, a pioneer in Chinese contemporary music. Deeply immersed in Chinese traditional culture, Chou was the first to apply the elements of ancient Chinese ch’in music into compositions written for western instruments, successfully bridging East and West.
The ch’in is a traditional Chinese seven-stringed, plucked zither, which was associated
with sages and scholars. The sophisticated technique of ch’in playing,
exemplified in the earliest manuscripts from the Tang dynasty (618-906 A.D.)
involves various ways of plucking the strings, as well as describing the instruments
range, timbre, and the use of ornaments. In this composition for string quartet, Zhou
captures the essence of these special musical gestures. The piece is based on a poem
titled ¡§Old Fisherman¡¨ by Liu Tsung-yuan (773-819 A.D.) who was 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 many mountains and valleys in southwestern China and created
profound and beautiful works. In the “Old Fisherman” he wrote:
The old fisherman moors at night by western cliffs;
At dawn, draws water from the clear Hsiang, 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.
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Year composed: 1982
Duration: 00:09:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:String Quartet
Instrumentation: 2 Violin, 1 Viola, 1 Cello