Onomatopoeia consists of three independent pieces: Chan Chan (Chinese: sound or motion of flowing water), Jia Yuan (Chinese: home, homeland), and Tiao Tiao (Chinese: remote, distant). These pieces can be partially overlapped to be played as one continuous work.
The central piece Jia Yuan, scored for children's choir with fifteen instruments chamber ensemble, is the core piece. Chan Chan, scored for chamber string orchestra (4-4-2-2-2), is the first piece. Tiao Tiao, the last piece, is orchestrated for a chamber orchestra, by combining the string orchestra with the chamber ensemble in the two previous pieces.
The musical material of Onomatopoeia is built out of the idiomatic translation of the expression ‘Home Sweet Home’ into twenty-four world languages. In Jia Yuan, the text is presented in manifold ways: original form, non-sense syllables, and in reconstructed words. Its semantic and phonetic transformation and transference into composed musical shape, becomes the basis of building material for Chan Chan and Tiao Tiao, hence, determines musical language and formal structure.
Music is a functional language, for expression and for communication. To express ideas through children's simplicity, to communicate by means of children's spontaneous creativity, these were the main objects in composing Jia Yuan. In Chan Chan and Tiao Tiao, the main goals were to develop simple material in many directions and dimensions and to create variegated contrasts within the fluidity of music, while still preserving unity.
1979, the year when this project first began, was the International Year of the Child. Onomatopoeia is dedicated to the children of the world, especially the ones who lost their home, homeland or, their lives due to human folly.
_________________________
o som do desassossego…reflection on recollection for piano (2015) was commissioned by New Works Calgary with a Canada Council for the Arts commissioning grant for a special event on October 1, 2015, featuring a concert dedicated to John Peter Lee Roberts, a remarkable supporter, innovator and administrator for contemporary music.
If sometimes I say that flowers smile
And if I should say that rivers sing,
It’s not because I think there are smiles in flowers
And songs in the rivers’ flowing...
It’s so I can help misguided men
Feel the truly real existence of flowers and rivers.
Fernando Pessoa, A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe
_________________________
Parting at Yang Kuan (Chinese: Sun Pass) for erhu, guzheng, marimba (2004) was commissioned by the Orchid Ensemble with a Canada Council for the Arts commissioning grant. It is the eighth piece in Voices in Time cycle (1989-2011).
Since 1979, Hope Lee has been studying Chinese music, medieval and classical poetry, in particular the ideology, philosophy and notation of qin (Chinese 7-string zither) music. The knowledge absorbed and material collected have integrated and become an important part of her creative voice and to-date, eight pieces have been completed in a projected eleven-piece cycle, with each reflecting on a particular time in Chinese history which in turn, echoes our own existence.
Parting at Yang Kuan reflects on the Ming Dynasty, the last dynasty in China ruled by Chinese, a time of rapid changes of rulers, internal rebellion, wars at the frontiers, naval expeditions, Manchus invasion and conquest. Musically, this work serves as a gate, many musical ideas and materials of the seven previous works are re-examined and renewed in a new sound world.
_________________________
PRELUDE to 'and the end is the beginning’ for violin, Bb clarinet, piano (2006) is a prelude to the last piece of the eleven-piece Voices in Time cycle, and the end is the beginning. It uses musical material and gestures from the previous pieces and is a structural miniature of the last.
_________________________
Rubbing Stone for alto saxophone (2006) is written for Jeremy Brown. It is the last piece to complete my ‘Four Seasons’ set. Each of the four pieces is a soundscape of a season: Duo Solista (violin and piano) for winter; Days Beyond (alto saxophone, piano) for spring; dancing shadow autumn moon (2 guzheng duet) for autumn, Rubbing Stone for summer.
Jeremy Brown described the Rubbing Stone on Nose Hill in Calgary: “…It is a glacial erratic used by buffalo for thousand of years as a place of rest and ease. I have jogged by it and admired the rock so many times and am moved by the history and unwitting beauty of it.
I hear drones of the earth, that is, the low rumble of some unseen but palpable force. Accompanied by the treble of birds living their lives in relative snatches of time. I imagine the buffalo a century ago, their smell, muscularity, and use of the Rubbing Stone. I imagine that some of the plants at the base of the stone, (in summer) odd to my eye, may have been carried there by the buffalo, suggesting journey, a micro-climate of other places, inspired and sustained by the Stone.
I hear a place of timeless song, suggesting timelessness, and the transitory nature of our time here. The chinook sky and wind, mosquitoes at night, the sky at night, there are so many beauties to behold…”
_________________________
Secret of the Seven Stars for strings, accordion, percussion (2009-11) representing the Present time, is the tenth piece in Voices in Time cycle inspired by classical Chinese poetry, legends, the ideology, philosophy and notation of guqin music. With each work representing a dynasty, this cycle is a personal reflection and musical transformation of the voices of poets, musicians, philosophers, heroes and heroines, whose lives and work have threaded the cultural tapestry of an ancient civilization.
…a starry night…vast peace, majesty of the universe...
the puny individual who stood below, gazing... dreaming, longing,…
distant place and time……
awe and wonders…
heartbroken, suffering...
_________________________
shadows of an uncounted journey (1997) is one of the pieces written for a large collaborative project one thousand curves ten thousand colours, a multimedia presentation bringing together interactive acoustic and electroacoustic music with projected images.
The initial spark for one thousand curves ten thousand colours came from Marguerite Yourcenar's story, How Wang-Fo Was Saved, based on a Chinese legend. Wang-Fo is a Han Dynasty painter who is able to see to the very essence of nature and paint it with an astonishing vividness. The Emperor's son grows up isolated in the imperial palace surrounded by Wang-Fo's paintings. On the death of his father he leaves the palace and sees only ugliness in the real world. He then summons Wang-Fo to the palace to have him paint one more painting before he is blinded and behanded as punishment for deceiving him. Ling, Wang-Fo's disciple who has abandoned his beautiful, fragile young wife and left all his worldly belongings behind to follow and serve him, is killed by the soldiers while trying to save his master. As he begins to paint an ocean scene, water gradually rises about him in the palace and a boat appears in the distance. With Ling's words, 'You being alive, how could I have died?' he then steps into a boat and is rowed away into his painting by his disciple. The intermingling of fantasy and reality is an integral part of the creative artist's perception and understanding of the world. The artist's work acts as a door to pass through to reach a more profound understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live.
Shadows of an Uncounted Journey consists of four moments: Shadows I - an uncounted journey, Shadows II - shadows (death of Ling's wife), Shadows III - shattered dream (emperor's distorted world), Shadows IV - a journey reaching beyond.
The assistance of the Video, Audio and Computer-Integrated Media section of the Canada Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Calgary Region Arts Foundation and the Government of Canada through 'Canada Year of Asia Pacific' in creating and producing one thousand curves ten thousand colours is gratefully acknowledged.
_________________________
shadows of an uncounted journey II (1997) for soprano, violin
throw away
throw away love
throw away happiness
ten thousand miles sunshine
gathered on my icy cold hands
I am not a rock
I scatter readily like clouds at the mountain peak
I am not mountains
Disappear, quietly like yesterday
Tide comes in
sadness
disappear
quietly like yesterday
Raise hands to the sky
Raise hands to the sky
Let me throw a net
on the boundless vagueness
Only because
here I am
alone
facing the lonely Milky Way
Yang Mu
translations by Hope Lee
The central piece Jia Yuan, scored for children's choir with fifteen instruments chamber ensemble, is the core piece. Chan Chan, scored for chamber string orchestra (4-4-2-2-2), is the first piece. Tiao Tiao, the last piece, is orchestrated for a chamber orchestra, by combining the string orchestra with the chamber ensemble in the two previous pieces.
The musical material of Onomatopoeia is built out of the idiomatic translation of the expression ‘Home Sweet Home’ into twenty-four world languages. In Jia Yuan, the text is presented in manifold ways: original form, non-sense syllables, and in reconstructed words. Its semantic and phonetic transformation and transference into composed musical shape, becomes the basis of building material for Chan Chan and Tiao Tiao, hence, determines musical language and formal structure.
Music is a functional language, for expression and for communication. To express ideas through children's simplicity, to communicate by means of children's spontaneous creativity, these were the main objects in composing Jia Yuan. In Chan Chan and Tiao Tiao, the main goals were to develop simple material in many directions and dimensions and to create variegated contrasts within the fluidity of music, while still preserving unity.
1979, the year when this project first began, was the International Year of the Child. Onomatopoeia is dedicated to the children of the world, especially the ones who lost their home, homeland or, their lives due to human folly.
_________________________
o som do desassossego…reflection on recollection for piano (2015) was commissioned by New Works Calgary with a Canada Council for the Arts commissioning grant for a special event on October 1, 2015, featuring a concert dedicated to John Peter Lee Roberts, a remarkable supporter, innovator and administrator for contemporary music.
If sometimes I say that flowers smile
And if I should say that rivers sing,
It’s not because I think there are smiles in flowers
And songs in the rivers’ flowing...
It’s so I can help misguided men
Feel the truly real existence of flowers and rivers.
Fernando Pessoa, A Little Larger Than the Entire Universe
_________________________
Parting at Yang Kuan (Chinese: Sun Pass) for erhu, guzheng, marimba (2004) was commissioned by the Orchid Ensemble with a Canada Council for the Arts commissioning grant. It is the eighth piece in Voices in Time cycle (1989-2011).
Since 1979, Hope Lee has been studying Chinese music, medieval and classical poetry, in particular the ideology, philosophy and notation of qin (Chinese 7-string zither) music. The knowledge absorbed and material collected have integrated and become an important part of her creative voice and to-date, eight pieces have been completed in a projected eleven-piece cycle, with each reflecting on a particular time in Chinese history which in turn, echoes our own existence.
Parting at Yang Kuan reflects on the Ming Dynasty, the last dynasty in China ruled by Chinese, a time of rapid changes of rulers, internal rebellion, wars at the frontiers, naval expeditions, Manchus invasion and conquest. Musically, this work serves as a gate, many musical ideas and materials of the seven previous works are re-examined and renewed in a new sound world.
_________________________
PRELUDE to 'and the end is the beginning’ for violin, Bb clarinet, piano (2006) is a prelude to the last piece of the eleven-piece Voices in Time cycle, and the end is the beginning. It uses musical material and gestures from the previous pieces and is a structural miniature of the last.
_________________________
Rubbing Stone for alto saxophone (2006) is written for Jeremy Brown. It is the last piece to complete my ‘Four Seasons’ set. Each of the four pieces is a soundscape of a season: Duo Solista (violin and piano) for winter; Days Beyond (alto saxophone, piano) for spring; dancing shadow autumn moon (2 guzheng duet) for autumn, Rubbing Stone for summer.
Jeremy Brown described the Rubbing Stone on Nose Hill in Calgary: “…It is a glacial erratic used by buffalo for thousand of years as a place of rest and ease. I have jogged by it and admired the rock so many times and am moved by the history and unwitting beauty of it.
I hear drones of the earth, that is, the low rumble of some unseen but palpable force. Accompanied by the treble of birds living their lives in relative snatches of time. I imagine the buffalo a century ago, their smell, muscularity, and use of the Rubbing Stone. I imagine that some of the plants at the base of the stone, (in summer) odd to my eye, may have been carried there by the buffalo, suggesting journey, a micro-climate of other places, inspired and sustained by the Stone.
I hear a place of timeless song, suggesting timelessness, and the transitory nature of our time here. The chinook sky and wind, mosquitoes at night, the sky at night, there are so many beauties to behold…”
_________________________
Secret of the Seven Stars for strings, accordion, percussion (2009-11) representing the Present time, is the tenth piece in Voices in Time cycle inspired by classical Chinese poetry, legends, the ideology, philosophy and notation of guqin music. With each work representing a dynasty, this cycle is a personal reflection and musical transformation of the voices of poets, musicians, philosophers, heroes and heroines, whose lives and work have threaded the cultural tapestry of an ancient civilization.
…a starry night…vast peace, majesty of the universe...
the puny individual who stood below, gazing... dreaming, longing,…
distant place and time……
awe and wonders…
heartbroken, suffering...
_________________________
shadows of an uncounted journey (1997) is one of the pieces written for a large collaborative project one thousand curves ten thousand colours, a multimedia presentation bringing together interactive acoustic and electroacoustic music with projected images.
The initial spark for one thousand curves ten thousand colours came from Marguerite Yourcenar's story, How Wang-Fo Was Saved, based on a Chinese legend. Wang-Fo is a Han Dynasty painter who is able to see to the very essence of nature and paint it with an astonishing vividness. The Emperor's son grows up isolated in the imperial palace surrounded by Wang-Fo's paintings. On the death of his father he leaves the palace and sees only ugliness in the real world. He then summons Wang-Fo to the palace to have him paint one more painting before he is blinded and behanded as punishment for deceiving him. Ling, Wang-Fo's disciple who has abandoned his beautiful, fragile young wife and left all his worldly belongings behind to follow and serve him, is killed by the soldiers while trying to save his master. As he begins to paint an ocean scene, water gradually rises about him in the palace and a boat appears in the distance. With Ling's words, 'You being alive, how could I have died?' he then steps into a boat and is rowed away into his painting by his disciple. The intermingling of fantasy and reality is an integral part of the creative artist's perception and understanding of the world. The artist's work acts as a door to pass through to reach a more profound understanding of ourselves and the world in which we live.
Shadows of an Uncounted Journey consists of four moments: Shadows I - an uncounted journey, Shadows II - shadows (death of Ling's wife), Shadows III - shattered dream (emperor's distorted world), Shadows IV - a journey reaching beyond.
The assistance of the Video, Audio and Computer-Integrated Media section of the Canada Council, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Calgary Region Arts Foundation and the Government of Canada through 'Canada Year of Asia Pacific' in creating and producing one thousand curves ten thousand colours is gratefully acknowledged.
_________________________
shadows of an uncounted journey II (1997) for soprano, violin
throw away
throw away love
throw away happiness
ten thousand miles sunshine
gathered on my icy cold hands
I am not a rock
I scatter readily like clouds at the mountain peak
I am not mountains
Disappear, quietly like yesterday
Tide comes in
sadness
disappear
quietly like yesterday
Raise hands to the sky
Raise hands to the sky
Let me throw a net
on the boundless vagueness
Only because
here I am
alone
facing the lonely Milky Way
Yang Mu
translations by Hope Lee