Chen, Yi: Wu Yu

Commissioned by Boston Musica Viva with funds provided by Catherine and Paul Buttenwieser, premiered on March 15, 2002, in Boston, directed by Richard Pittman, Wu Yu is composed for flute, clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), bassoon, violin, cello and percussion (vibraphone, bongo, Japanese high woodblock, cymbal, 2 Chinese gongs, tom-tom and bass drum), in two movements. Wu Yu was a ritual dance in ancient China, which includes song and dance performed with ox tails in hands. It’s a ceremony of praying to the deity for rain. In the first movement of my composition Wu Yu, I use the flute, clarinet and bassoon to play in heterophonic style, imitating the tunes played by a group of suona players in a village ceremony (the blowing instrument “suona” is a shawm, made with wood), while using other instruments to create sheng-like sustained chords (the Chinese traditional instrument “sheng” is a free-reed mouth-organ, made with a gourd). The music starts slowly, and gets faster and faster towards the coda. In the second movement, I imitate a whole group of Chinese traditional percussion instruments played in the folk ensemble music Shifan Gong-and-drum in Southeast China, which is often used in ceremonies and village gatherings. The music is brought to a climax at the end of the work. The whole piece lasts about 14 minutes. —Chen Yi