Chen: Qi

Description

In Qi, I used a mixed combination of western instruments, to create the sound from east, to express my feelings of the Qi abstractly — it's so untouchable, so mysterious, but so strong and powerful. It melts into air and light, it's like the space in Chinese paintings, it's filled into the dancing lines in Chinese calligraphy, it's the spirit in the human mind. in my composition, I translate my general feeling of the Qi, the element of nature, into my musical language in a quite free and slow tempo. There are also exaggerated textures with tension, in which I try to sound the inner voices and spirit of human beings, to experience this eternal power.

Commissioned and premiered by the New Music Consort of New York, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and Los Angeles Philharmonic Association with a grant provided by the Meet The Composer/Reader's Digest consortium commissioning program, the quartet is entitled Qi, and was recorded on CRI under the title "Sparkle: Chamber Music of Chen Yi," released in New York in 1999.

I have dedicated the work to Prof. Chou Wen-Chung on his 75th birthday in 1998, to express my deep gratitude to his mentorship in my composition concept and artistic thoughts. —Chen Yi