Homeland

 

Homeland is an orchestral piece written as an expression of my emotions towards my native land of Taiwan.

 

Atonality and traditional tonality are combined in this piece so that a wider audience can embrace the sentiments of longing contained in Homeland.

 

According to the musical structures and moods, music can be divided into four parts.

 

The first part describes a city born to suffering and poverty. A great deal of dissonant acoustics and tense rhythm show the depression of the city and inhabitants’ agitation. The consecutive repetitions of pitches and motifs echoed sharply among the voices sharply bring out the tension in the music.

 

After a round of acoustic turmoil, the music changes gears to feature the deep sounds of the timpani and the bass drum, and then develops into the dolce second part at bar 70. The mellow and solemn tone brings to mind the prosperity and beauty of the city. Simultaneously, the scattered but restless echoes of trills haunting the voices resemble the unstable moods pervading the city; nevertheless, the trilling fears are soon transformed into the singing of strings as warm light sprinkles the lovely city.

 

Moving on into the third part at bar 101, the trills return as another danger emerges!? The city remains secure throughout these changes though, as many groups of rapid short notes dart in and out between the voices. This distinctive rhythm endows the section with an uninhibited atmosphere.

 

At bar 140, with the advent of night, the city seems tranquil!?

Posted on August 22, 2014

Sea

 

Sea is a trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano that I composed in the winter of 2009.

 

In the past year, I have drawn inspiration from movies and other visual arts including illustration, design, and architecture. All of them give me huge impact influencing the philosophy of my writing.

 

Although I had only thought about music for short animations and films in the past whole year, I started writing Sea as a piece for live concert as I suddenly desired to do so. In this work, I not only consider dissonant modern acoustics and the techniques of contemporary classical music but also dig deeper into fascinating harmony and vibes that are somehow triggered from the diverse arts interesting me. I attempt to blend post-modern sound and filmic styles together and see if I can explore some new frontiers of fantasy and romance. Thus, the music possesses an artistic value while remaining accessible or even entertaining to its audience.

 

Through its six parts, Sea illustrates the kaleidoscopic nature of the ocean. It is build up with the sections in order:

Sea’s Width and Fantasy, Sea’s Intangible Waves, Sea’s Mystery and Unease, Sea’s Whispers and Tenderness, Sea’s Surge, and Sea’s Tranquility.

Posted on August 22, 2014

A Blooming Tree

 

A Blooming Tree

May Buddha let us meet in my most beautiful hours,

I have prayed for it for five hundred years.

Buddha made me a tree

By the path you may take.

In full blossoms I’m waiting in the sun

Every flower carrying my previous hope.

As you are near,

Listen carefully

The quivering leaves are my waiting zeal,

As you pass by the tree without noticing me.

My friend,

Upon the ground behind you

Is not the fallen petals

But my withered heart.

 

In the spring of 2008, I was commissioned by a soprano to compose a piece with Taiwanese poet Xi Murong’s famous poem A Blooming Tree. Xi Murong’s poetry has been known for its simplicity conveying deep emotions. While the moderation of her writing is prevailing, the flow of warmth and sentiment that is built up with delicate rhetoric delivers the thickest level of romance. Her letters remind me of Debussy’s music that discards the hysteria of the chromaticism tracing back to the last half of the Romanticism, and invents a new language of harmony which seems simple, but from another perspective, can truly interpret the artist’s romantic mood.

 

As a Taiwanese composer born in the universe of Mandarin Chinese and influenced by the tonality of the western music, I obtained my initial inspiration from Debussy’s harmony but in the meanwhile, blurred the boundary between the elements from tonality and mode that together form the spirit of this composition.

Posted on August 22, 2014

Expressions

 

Expressions (2008) is a little concert piece for solo violin. The initial goal of writing this work is trying to experiment a vibe which should coexist the “awkward” beauty and the “unusual” glamor — for the versatile instrument violin, one of my favorite musical instruments. To achieve the ambition, I try to abandon the most sense of the tonal hierarchies that are developed since the 17th century, but maintain the melody and linear movement as organized as possible just like what should be taken care of when writing tonal music.

 

In harmony, it combines several syntheses that include the mixture of major and minor seconds scale, whole tone scale, and the chromatic scale. The music can be divided into five sections as A, B, C, D, and A’. Except the section D, each section develops, recalls, or transforms materials derived from the preceding section. Consequently, the section B is the mutation of the section A, and the section C can be regarded as the evolution of the section B. The section A’ turns out the finale that ends up with successive harmonics played in a tranquil mood.

 

As the title, this composition expresses various musical gestures within a limited space.

Posted on August 22, 2014

Nostalgia

 

Nostalgia is an adaption of my previous work Sleep Well, Sleep Tight.

 

After finishing Sleep Well, Sleep Tight, a pianist friend pursuing his D.M.A. degree had the intention to play it as an encore for his lecture concert, but initially I wrote that one to be more pop music sound and personally didn’t think it could work well in an academic activity.

 

So, I decided to adapt it into this Nostalgia. I only kept the first phrase of the original composition but recomposed the rest of it to make the taste more classical and moderate. And that’s what you’re listening to now.

 

Enjoy!

Posted on June 18, 2014

Running on the Grassland

 

Running on the Grassland was one of the two marches I wrote for the 21st Summer Deaflympics Taipei in 2009.  Music was recorded by Taipei Symphony Orchestra.

Posted on August 22, 2014

Midsummer Etude

 

Chien-Yu Huang: Midsummer Etude

Posted on August 22, 2014

Construct on Light and Shadow

 

Construct on light and shadow

 

Everything in the universe must have firmness and tenderness. Therefore, harmony exists.

 

Light can symbolize firmness, and shadow can symbolize tenderness. Light and shadow is a contrast in harmony.

 

I respectively use two kinds of woodwinds and strings: flute and clarinet, cello and harp. With the combination of sound, firmness and tenderness are demonstrated. Using the language of modern music, and mixing spatial notation and traditional notation, I attempt to display respective timbre, register, and performing technique of musical instruments and to mix musical instruments of different types on sound expression at the same time. This piece enables performers to fully exhibit the techniques of musical instruments. The element of rhythm also produces variable musical dispositions, making music more interesting and lively.

Posted on August 23, 2014