Melodies of China

SKU: PR.11441359S

UPC: 680160582341. 8.5 x 11 inches.

Commissioned by Music From China ensemble and Prism Saxophone Quartet, with a grant provided by the New York State Council on the Arts in 2008. Premiered in New York City, February 2009.
Commissioned by Music From China ensemble and PRISM Saxophone Quartet, with a commissioning grant provided by the New York State Council on the Arts in 2008.The imagination of this music came from the figures in the murals carved in the Mogao Caves in the ancient city Dunhuang more than a thousand years ago.  The name Dunhuang originally meant “prospering, flourishing.”  Lying at the western end of the Gansu Corridor in China, Dunhuang was very important in the Silk Road that carried new thoughts, ideas, arts and sciences to the East and West in the ancient time.  The Mogao Grottoes were built and developed over 11 dynasties over more than 1,000 years (from the 4th to 14th centuries), with murals, sculptures, wooden cave buildings and books.  It was really the heyday of the art of Dunhuang in the brilliant Tang Dynasty (618-907).  The murals depict rolling dance gestures, the flapping streamer lines, the flying melodies around the clouds, and the fiery rhythms in the sky!  They show the high spirit and the strong power of the people and their society.  All these impressions are translated into the textures of the two Chinese traditional instrumental parts with support from a set of percussion instruments, and the sound of a saxophone quartet.  It’s mysterious, vivid, colorful and energetic, it brings us to dream of the ancient glory and yearn for the future...—Chen Yi.

SKU: PR.114419280

ISBN 9781491132357. UPC: 680160676125.

Inspired by Chinese tradition, this concerto-like dance suite includes: 1. Lion Dance, 2. YangKo, and 3. Muqam. Each movement draws from melodies and rhythms characteristic of various regions of China many centuries ago. CHINESE FOLK DANCE SUITE is available for violin with full orchestra, or as a recital work with piano.
Supported by a major commissioning award from the Serge Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress, Chinese Folk Dance Suite is written for solo violin and orchestra; it was premiered by The Women’s Philharmonic with violin soloist Terrie Baune, conducted by Apo Hsu, on March 10, 2001, at Yerba Buena Center For the Arts Theater in San Francisco.Inspired by various Chinese traditional folk dances, the suite has three movements:I. Lion Dance. Traditionally, people dance with richly decorated hand-made lions, accompanied by percussion ensemble, to celebrate happy occasions and major festivals throughout the country. In this composition, I use Chinese drum and other percussion instruments in the background, to form a dynamic and rhythmic texture responding to the solo part, which imitates the tunes played on the suona (traditional Chinese trumpet). The pitch materials came from the traditional Guangdong tune “Dragon Boat Racing,” and the Chaozhou tune “Lion Playing Ball.”II. YangKo. Originating in northern China, this is a major folk dance form in mass performance popularized in the country. In YangKo performance, people play rhythmic patterns on the drums hung around their waists while singing and dancing. In the second movement, I imagined a warm scene of YangKo dancing in distance. The solo violin plays a sweet and gracious melodic line while all members of the orchestra sing non-pitched syllables in different layers as the soft background, to imitate the percussion sound which produces the ever-going pulse.III. Muqam. This large-scale music and dance form, from the Uygur nationality in Xinjiang province, originated in the 15th century. My third movement use a 7/8 meter and the melodic style of Muqam music. The fiery dancing gesture culminates in the sustained climax section at the end of the work, after a colorful violin cadenza in both improvisational singing style and polyphonic writing with woven lines.

SKU: AP.48076S

ISBN 9781470658793. UPC: 038081554341. English.

Take your orchestra on a trip around the world with this fun medley of some of the most famous melodies ever written in A Musical Passport by Richard Meyer. Using 22 tunes from 17 different countries, this is the ultimate multi-cultural experience for your students and your audience! The melodies are tossed from section to section so all the instruments get a chance in the spotlight, and the quickly changing styles will keep everyone on their toes.

Songs that are included in A Musical Passport by Richard Meyer are: America, the Beautiful (U.S.A.) * Rule, Britannia (England) * The Irish Washerwoman (Ireland) * Scotland the Brave (Scotland) * Roll Out the Barrel (Czechoslovakia/Germany) * Funiculi, Funicula (Italy) * Frere Jacques (France) * Dark Eyes (Russia) * Jasmine Flower Song (China) * Arirang (Korea) * Sakura (Japan) * Obwisana (Ghana) * Siyahamba (We Are Marching) (South Africa [Zulu]) * Waltzing Matilda (Australia) * La Cumparsita (South America [Uruguay]) * Las Chiapanecas (Mexico) * Cielito Lindo (Mexico) * O Canada (Canada) * Oh! Susanna (U.S.A.) * Camptown Races (U.S.A.) * America, the Beautiful (U.S.A.) * Home, Sweet Home (U.S.A.) * The Star-Spangled Banner (U.S.A.) * America, the Beautiful (U.S.A.). Correlates with Sound Innovations for String Orchestra, Book 2, Level 6. (3:00) This title available in MakeMusic Cloud.