Academic literature on the topic 'Taiwanese Piano Ensemble Music'

BERNARD STEVENS: Piano Trio op.3; Sonata for violin and piano op.1; Trio for horn, violin and piano op.38; Fantasia on a theme of Dowland for violin and piano op.23; Improvisation for solo violin op.48a. The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields Chamber Ensemble – Kenneth Sillito (vln), Stephen Orton (vlc), Hamish Milne (pno), Timothy Brown (hn). Albany Records TROY 572.

It's been more than 40 years since Elliott Carter wrote a concertante work for piano and orchestra: the 1963 Piano Concerto was one of the high watermarks of the complexity and richness of his early maturity. His latest piece is Dialogues for piano and large ensemble, and at its dazzlingly expressive world premiere performance on 23 January, by its commissioners and dedicatees, pianist Nicolas Hodges and the London Sinfonietta, conducted by Oliver Knussen, the work was revealed as one of the most significant of Carter's recent catalogue.

Ensemble musicians typically exchange visual cues to coordinate piece entrances. “Cueing-in” gestures indicate when to begin playing and at what tempo. This study investigated how timing information is encoded in musicians’ cueing-in gestures. Gesture acceleration patterns were expected to indicate beat position, while gesture periodicity, duration, and peak gesture velocity were expected to indicate tempo. Same-instrument ensembles (e.g., piano–piano) were expected to synchronize more successfully than mixed-instrument ensembles (e.g., piano–violin). Duos performed short passages as their head and (for violinists) bowing hand movements were tracked with accelerometers and Kinect sensors. Performers alternated between leader/follower roles; leaders heard a tempo via headphones and cued their partner in nonverbally. Violin duos synchronized more successfully than either piano duos or piano–violin duos, possibly because violinists were more experienced in ensemble playing than pianists. Peak acceleration indicated beat position in leaders’ head-nodding gestures. Gesture duration and periodicity in leaders’ head and bowing hand gestures indicated tempo. The results show that the spatio-temporal characteristics of cueing-in gestures guide beat perception, enabling synchronization with visual gestures that follow a range of spatial trajectories.

Background. The article is devoted to the piano work of the outstanding composer, pianist and teacher Mao-Shuen Chen (born 1936), his contribution to the art of music and education in Taiwan. Music education received in Taiwan, and then – in European countries, allowed Mao-Shuen Chen to significantly develop and modernize his native national art. His methodical works, textbooks and collections of exercises for piano became the basis of his own method of teaching, which the musician has long successfully used in public and private music schools in Taiwan. An important role in Mao-Shuen Chen’s unique pedagogical system is also played by his piano works, especially sonatinas. The sonatinas of Mao-Shuen Chen act as a kind of link between school-level compositions and opuses of the highest pianistic complexity. They are collected in three notebooks, each of the next of which represents a higher degree of pianistic complexity. Sonatina makes it possible, in a simpler and more compact-scale presentation, to prepare students for mastering a more complex genre – the sonata. Mastering the sonata form for members of the Taiwanese musical tradition is a particularly difficult task, due to differences in European musical thinking, within which the sonata originated, and the peculiarities of national music, which is usually the focus of composers. However, the genre of sonatina in the works of Mao-Shuen Chen and its role in the development of sonata thinking of Taiwanese students have not been studied to date. Objectives and methodology. The purpose of this research is to reveal the peculiarities of the interpretation of the genre of sonatina in the piano work of Mao-Shuen Chen, its role in the pedagogical system of the Taiwanese musician and its artistic and pedagogical value. In this connection the characteristic of the pianistic level of complexity of the works under consideration is given, their technical and artistic difficulties are revealed. For this, various methods of research were applied: genre-style, intonational analyses, systematization, musical-aesthetic and interpretological approaches. Results. Thanks to a well-organized educational system of methodological works, books, musical anthologies and audio recordings, Mao-Shuen Chen was able to build his own pedagogical approagh and introduce his teaching methods to many young musicians striving to acquire a high professional level as a performer and a teacher. In this system of mastering piano professionalism, thirty-five sonatinas by Mao-Shuen Chen, created from 1980 to 2015, occupy an important place. Sonatinas are very useful in preparing piano students to study more complex compositions written in sonata form. All sonatinas are dominated by the flavor of Taiwanese folk music. So, at the heart of Sonatinas Nos. 1–5, 7, 11, 17, 21 is the pentatonic scale of the mode “shan”, which can be expanded with additional steps. The exceptions are Sonatina No. 6, written using the atonal writing technique, and Sonatina No. 8, which is based on the Western European tonal system. Considering the rhythmic organization as the basis of music, the composer demonstrates in his sonatinas various versions of the musical meter and rhythm – complex and variable metering, syncope, polyrhythm, etc. He arranges these elements in his sonatinas from simple to complex. Mao-Shuen Chen pays great attention to polyrhythmic combinations 3: 2, 4: 3, 4: 6 and, considering them important for mastering the educational didactic. They can be considered the same instructive material as rhythmic exercises or etudes. For example, Sonatinas Nos. 3–6 are based on polyrhythm 3: 2, 2: 3, Sonatinas Nos. 7–8 – on combinations 3: 4 and 4: 3. It is no coincidence, that they also published in the composer’s educational methodological manual – the collection “Piano School and Piano Exercises 3: 4, 4: 3” (1990). The final Sonatinas (Nos. 32–34) by Mao-Shuen Chen require a high degree of pianistic mastership from the performer. They present works that combine complex elements of the Taiwanese national musical language and contemporary Western composer writing. The intonational and dynamic richness, variety of rhythmic patterns, irregular meters, extraordinary line drawing indicate that these works can rightfully be considered one of the brightest examples of the modern repertoire and can be widely represented on the concert stage. Conclusions. Mao-Shuen Chen made significant contributions to Taiwanese musical culture, especially in the areas of composition and music education. Among the many genres of his work, piano music occupies the most significant place. Having devoted many years to teaching in the higher musical institutions of Taiwan, Mao-Shuen Chen has developed a coherent system of teaching materials from the level of musical elementary school to higher education, with a focus on the practice of solfeggio and fundamental professional disciplines. The composer devoted a significant part of his attention to works of the sonata form – sonatinas and sonatas. In this regard, he can be compared with the Western European classic, the “patriarch of the piano” M. Clementi, who created a harmonious system of progressive mastery of pianistic skill. In all of his works, Mao-Shuen Chen represents his aspiration for the model of Western musical education, carefully preserving the Taiwanese national cultural tradition. He creates compositions with a typical Western structure, which should be performed on a Western musical instrument, but they clearly reflect the ChineseTaiwanese national flavor. Since the piano sonatas of Mao-Shuen Chen present high demands on performers due to their large volume, considerable virtuosity and the complexity of the rhythmic organization of texture, their mastering is possible only after passing through the simpler opuses of the Taiwanese composer.

PASCAL DUSAPIN: Perelà, uomo di fumo. Orchestre National de Montpellier c. Alain Altinoglu. Naïve MO 782168 (2-CD set).DUSAPIN: 7 Études pour piano; À quia (piano concerto). Ian Pace (pno), Orchestre de Paris c. Christoph Eschenbach. Naïve MO 782164.DUSAPIN: Granum Sinapis; Umbrae Mortis; Dona eis. Choeur de Chamber Accentus, Ensemble Ars Nova c. Laurence Equilbey. Naïve MO 782116.DUSAPIN: String Quartets Nos. 1 and 4. Danel String Quartet. Accord 476 1919.DUSAPIN: String Quartets Nos. 2 ‘Time Zones’ and 3. DUTILLEUX: Ainsi la Nuit. Arditti String Quartet. Naïve MO 782125.

The article overviews a set of issues related to the latest interpretation of the piano in the second half of the XXth century, the use of non-specific techniques of playing the instrument and the peculiarities of its use in the chamber ensemble. It describes the main elaboration direction of compositional methods and techniques, their objectification in the ensemble work of Ukrainian artists. V. Silvestrov's "Drama" for violin, cello and piano is analyzed as a unique example of synthesis of traditional and avant-garde tendencies in the music of the XXth century, which combines music making with elements of instrumental theater. The article outlines main parameters, notes the stylistic and timbre diversity of the work. The compositional methods and techniques used in the trio are considered, including sonorism, aleatory, pointillism, happening. The role of the prepared piano at sound color is established, and other sound, noise and stage effects in creation of a sound image of a composition. The significance of the latest sound formation principles laid down in the work, the urgency and influence of the author's innovations on modern chamber music are revealed. The proposed analysis should contribute to a fuller understanding of avant-garde trends and their manifestation in chamber music of the second half of the XXth century and a wider introduction of V. Silvestrov's works to the chamber and ensemble repertoire of modern performers.

Music for clavier from the 18th century graphically recreates the acoustic images of the musical instruments and models of quasi-ensemble music making of that period. This tradition of “reflected musical texts” was typical for the Baroque period, when piano music presented a quasi-ensemble score condensed into two-staff notation. The acoustic features of the European practice of music-making in ensembles have also been universally reflected in the musical graphics of the piano sonatas of the Viennese Classicists – Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. On the basis of the observations of this migration within the musical text of the slow movement of Mozart’s Sonata in B-flat minor K. 570, the article demonstrates the modifications of the structural dialogic models of Baroque practice and the process of their transformation into unfolded narrative-contextual signs, the peculiar features of the musical scores, and the acoustic images of the 18th century music-making practice.

GIYA KANCHELI: Time…and again; V & V; Piano Quartet. Gidon Kremer (vln), Oleg Maisenberg (pno), Kremerata Baltica, The Bridge Ensemble. ECM New Series 461 8182.ALEXANDER KNAIFEL: Psalm 51 (50); Amicta Sole. Mstislav Rostropovich (vlc), Tatiana Melentieva (sop), Glinka Choral College, State Hermitage Orchestra c. Arkady Shteinlukht. ECM New Series 472 0832.

The purpose of this study is to provide an introduction and analysis of Harvest Festival, a work for piano four hands by Taiwanese composer Yann-Jong Hwang. This work incorporates elements of traditional Taiwanese music that is largely unfamiliar to performers and listeners beyond the border of Taiwan. With the exception of Professor Hwang’s own journal article on this piece, this project is the only study of Harvest Festival available in the United States or Taiwan. This research will be meaningful to both performers and piano teachers as an encouragement to include Yann-Jong Hwang’s work within their concert repertory. This document examines the background of Yann-Jong Hwang; briefly introduces Taiwan, the Amis tribe, and the Harvest Festival event; provides a structural analysis of all four sections of Harvest Festival; and concludes with an appendix consisting of a complete score of Harvest Festival.

In 2016 Taiwan gained its first Taiwanese, female President Tsai Ing-wen, at the same time, composer Kuo Chih-Yuan (1921-2013) was named by popular media as the ‘Father of Taiwanese Music’. Kuo Chih-Yuan was a Taiwanese composer who created music with elements of traditional Taiwanese music in ways which had not been done before. In this thesis I evaluate how Kuo uses traditional elements from Taiwanese music in the Kuo Chih Yuan Piano Solo Album and Concertino for Piano and String Orchestra, and suggest how an understanding of these influences might guide an appropriate performance of these works. In my final recital I present my own interpretation of Kuo’s piano music as a product of my research into his life and musical influences.

Sizhu was written for the standard Pierrot ensemble though with percussion replacing the singer. This particular ensemble is capable of producing a multitude of colors while maintaining the balance inherent to a chamber group. The Chinese name, si’zhu, is a literal and figurative metaphor for these elements of the ensemble. Literally translated “silk” (sī) and “bamboo” (zhú), the word is a generalization for Chinese classical music developed in the Jiangsu province (Jiāngnán sīzhú) that utilizes strings, or “silk” instruments, and flutes, or “bamboo,” instruments in combination. A typical work involves two or more players of either ilk. In reference to the work presented here, Sizhu is a metaphor for the western instruments (flute and clarinet as “bamboo,” and violin and cello as “silk”) that are employed within the piece. It also refers to my use of a Chinese melody in the compositional process. The song, Er Quan Ying Yue (The Moon Reflected In Second Spring), was composed and performed regularly on the streets by the blind erhu player A Bing. The song has been fragmented, stretched, and varied to the point of near inscrutability, though it becomes more comprehensible following the mid-point. It inspires both structural and local events. The work also employs aspects of the spectral style. The first section is a slow distortion and transformation of the A harmonic spectrum; specific partials are emphasized as the spectrum expands and contracts. Additionally, fragments of the Chinese melody appear within the confines of each specific harmonic structure. The second part completely diverges utilizing assimilated pentatonic scale permutations. Finally, the third section synthesizes these two elements of musical material within the piece as the instruments morendo into silence.

In 2005, Dennis Kam completed the Sonata Ibis which the ensemble Ibis Camerata premiered at the Festival Miami at the University of Miami that same year. The composition is the last of five versions of the same work, originally written for piano solo. The work was recorded by the Ibis Camerata, on their CD titled Glisten, and released in 2006 on the Albany Records music label. The composition presents an important addition to the existing repertoire for the ensemble of clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. Sonata Ibis is a single movement work not following traditional forms. The work reflects the composer's conscious aim of making works with different versions. One of the issues that this study takes up is the evolution of the Sonata Ibis through all five versions. Analysis of musical materials and techniques used in the Sonata are also a part of the study. One chapter of this paper deals with Dennis Kam's biography. One chapter discusses the formal structure and musical idiom of the work. Performance-related issues from the ensemble and a pianist perspective are discussed in the remaining two chapters.

Dring’s early career is traced through her commissions for BBC radio and television broadcasts, of which the most significant is The Fair Queen of Wu, a ballet for singers and chamber ensemble with choreography by Felicity Gray. During these years, her first publications appeared, with an emphasis on piano music (for solo piano and two pianos) and her Three Shakespeare Songs. Dring’s music was also performed in recitals, including her recently published piano works and a selection of her songs (published and unpublished). The most favorable reviews are found for her Festival Scherzo (“Nights in the Gardens of Battersea”), written to commemorate the Festival of Britain. Also discussed is her one-act opera, Cupboard Love, the music written for the Christmas plays produced by Angela Bull’s Cygnet Company, and her first performance as a singer at the RCM’s Union “At Home.” A fine example of Dring’s cabaret style is found in the discussion and analysis of her song, “The Lady Composer.” In her personal life, the chapter documents her marriage to Roger Lord, his career as a musician (principal oboe in the London Symphony Orchestra for thirty-three years), and the birth of her son, Jeremy.

Symphonies Reframed recreates symphonies as chamber music. The project aims to capture the features that are unique for chamber music, at the juncture between the “soloistic small” and the “orchestral large”. A new ensemble model, the “triharmonic ensemble” with 7-9 musicians, has been created to serve this purpose. By choosing this size range, we are looking to facilitate group interplay without the need of a conductor. We also want to facilitate a richness of sound colours by involving piano, strings and winds. The exact combination of instruments is chosen in accordance with the features of the original score. The ensemble setup may take two forms: nonet with piano, wind quartet and string quartet (with double bass) or septet with piano, wind trio and string trio. As a group, these instruments have a rich tonal range with continuous and partly overlapping registers. This paper will illuminate three core questions: What artistic features emerge when changing from large orchestral structures to mid-sized chamber groups? How do the performers reflect on their musical roles in the chamber ensemble? What educational value might the reframing unfold? Since its inception in 2014, the project has evolved to include works with vocal, choral and soloistic parts, as well as sonata literature. Ensembles of students and professors have rehearsed, interpreted and performed our transcriptions of works by Brahms, Schumann and Mozart. We have also carried out interviews and critical discussions with the students, on their experiences of the concrete projects and on their reflections on own learning processes in general. Chamber ensembles and orchestras are exponents of different original repertoire. The difference in artistic output thus hinges upon both ensemble structure and the composition at hand. Symphonies Reframed seeks to enable an assessment of the qualities that are specific to the performing corpus and not beholden to any particular piece of music. Our transcriptions have enabled comparisons and reflections, using original compositions as a reference point. Some of our ensemble musicians have had first-hand experience with performing the original works as well. Others have encountered the works for the first time through our productions. This has enabled a multi-angled approach to the three central themes of our research. This text is produced in 2018.