Mountainscapes
General Info
Year of Published:2020
Publisher:
Difficulty: Advanced
Duration:
Cost:
Movement
Movement 1: Thousands of Rocks and Myriads of Valleys
Movement 2: Eternal Spring
Instrumentation
Soloist
Orchestra
Premiere Details
Date: 31/10/2020
Place: Hong Kong Cultural Center Concert Hall
Soloist: Chau Chin-tung
Orchestra: Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra
Descriptions
Chinese literati of all ages were avid travelers who often spent time amidst China's bounteous landscape. That is why viewing Chinese ink landscape painting is like being on the scene, in harmony with nature. This composition, Mountainscapes, is in two movements: the first, Thousands of Rocks and Myriads of Valleys, describes the magnificent panorama of high, rolling mountains and deep, meandering valleys that billow and overlap into the far distance. The second section continues with peaks that reach up to the sky, to where the fairyland is. The second movement, Eternal Spring, describes the greenery in the mountains that is brimming with life. Both movements close with the reverberating sound of the Temple Bowl, signaling that everything settles back in nature. The solo is a fine mixture of Chinese and Western percussions, with the characteristic timbres of metal, wood and skin – materials used for percussion instruments – continuing to cross over and vibrate. The music is commissioned by the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra and premiered with percussion soloist Chau Chin-tung at the 'Majestic Drums' concert in 2020.