Patrick Yim will perform the world premiere of Bamboo Grove on April 14, 2024, as part of the Presenting Series of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center at the University of Notre Dame
Program Notes by the composer
“Bamboo Grove” is composed for unaccompanied violin. It was created on the theme of Ruan Xian, a great master of the Three Kingdoms era. Ruan Xian is not only good at playing, but also good at composing. He is the only one in the world to name a musical instrument after him. Ruan Xian, courtesy name Zhongrong, one of the “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove”, was Ruan Ji’s nephew, and both uncles and nephews were collectively known as “Big and small Ruan”. Shan Tao believes that he “has few desires, deep knowledge and pure turbidity, and everything can’t be moved. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, due to dissatisfaction with Sima’s usurpation of power, seven celebrities appeared. Although they have different political views and philosophical beliefs, their hobbies are always the same. In the bamboo grove, they drink wine, play chess and compose poems, despise etiquette and law, and are unrestrained. They are known as the “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove” in history. “Bamboo Grove” consists of two parts: “Bamboo” and “Beats”.
The first part “Bamboo”, starting from scattered tempo, depicts the indulgent character of a sage deep in the bamboo forest, drinking and composing poems, looking up to the sky and howling. The music combines long-breathing melodies with decomposition patterns.
The second part “Beats”, the music borrows from the the guqin music “Jiu Kuang”, and the music material of Henan folk music “Xin Kai Ban”, gradually develops into an Allegro with a fluid texture until the lively rhythm of the presto ends the whole piece.
Duration: 10 minutes
周龙《竹林》(无伴奏小提琴独奏)乐曲介绍由美国圣母大学委约。
《竹林》(无伴奏小提琴独奏)是以三国时代的大家阮咸为题材创作的。阮咸不仅擅长演奏,也精于作曲。是世上唯一以其名字命名乐器者。阮咸,字仲容,“竹林七贤”之一,阮籍之侄,叔侄二人时人并称为“大小阮”。山涛认为他“贞索寡欲,深识清浊,万物不能移。魏晋时期,由于不满司马氏篡权,出现了七位社会名流。他们虽然在政治观点和哲学信仰上不尽相同,但志趣爱好却是一直的。他们在竹林中,纵酒酣饮,弈(yi)棋赋诗,鄙视礼法,无拘无束,历史上被称为“竹林七贤”。 《竹林》由两部分组成:“竹”与“板”。
第一部分“竹”,散板开始,刻画贤人深处竹林,纵酒赋诗,仰天长啸的放纵性格。音乐以长气息旋律与分解音型相结合。
第二部分“板”,音乐借鉴了古琴曲《酒狂》及河南的民间乐曲《新开板》的音乐素材,以流动性的织体逐渐发展为小快板直至急板的活跃节奏结束全曲。
演奏时间:10分钟
Biography
https://conservatory.umkc.edu/profiles/faculty-directory/zhou-long.html
Zhou Long is internationally recognized for creating a unique body of music that brings together the aesthetic concepts and musical elements of East and West. Winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for his first opera, Madame White Snake, Dr. Zhou also received the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, the Elise Stoeger Prize from Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, and Barlow Prize. He has received commissioning awards from the Koussevitzky, Fromm Music Foundations, Meet the Composer, Chamber Music America, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Fellowships are from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations, and the New York State Council on the Arts. Symphony Humen 1839 (commissioned and premiered by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra) has been awarded the first prize at the 2009 China National Composition Competition for symphonic work.
Born on July 8, 1953, in Beijing. Zhou Long enrolled in the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in 1977. Following graduation in 1983, he was appointed composer-in-residence with the China Broadcasting Symphony. He travelled to the United States in 1985 under a fellowship to attend Columbia University, where he studied with Chou Wen-Chung, Davidovsky and Edwards, receiving a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1993. Dr. Zhou is currently Bonfils Distinguished Research Professor of Composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory.
Recently, he has completed a Symphonic Oratorio: Men of Iron and the Golden Spike for voices, choir and orchestra (c. 50 minutes) co-commissioned by the Stanford University and Bard College, premiered at the Carnegie Hall in 2019; Classic of Mountains and Seas – Concerto for Orchestra, commissioned and premiered by the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra which received an award from the China National Arts Fund for subsequent performances; Tipsy Poet for violoncello and orchestra, co-commissioned and premiered by the WDR Symphony in Cologne and at 2019 Dresden Music Festival, and the Singapore Symphony; piano concerto (co-composed with Chen Yi) Bright Future commissioned by Southern University of Science & Technology and premiered by Shenzhen Symphony; Tsingtao Overture, commissioned and premiered by Qingdao Symphony which received an award from the China National Arts Fund for subsequent performances; Beijing Rhyme – A Symphonic Suite, commissioned by the Beijing Symphony Orchestra; a mixed quartet Legend of Nine Bells co-commissioned by the Wigmore Hall and Lincoln Center; and his first piano concerto Postures co-commissioned by the BBC Proms and Singapore Symphony. In 2013, Zhou Long has composed a whole evening symphonic epic Nine Odes on poems by Qu Yuan for four solo vocalists and orchestra, commissioned by the Beijing Music Festival. Zhou’s music of all genres has been widely performed and recorded, published by the Oxford University Press and the Shanghai Music Publishing House.
周龙被国际公认以创造一种独特的音乐汇集了东方和西方的审美观念和音乐元素。2011年,周龙成为首位美籍华裔作曲家以他的第一部歌剧《白蛇传》获得第95届普利策音乐奖(波士顿歌剧院与北京国际音乐节联合委约及首演)。他获得的奖项还包括美国艺术文学院终身成就奖,纽约林肯中心室内乐协会颁发的斯托格国际大奖,美国巴罗基金会国际作曲比赛首奖,美国国会图书馆库茨维斯基音乐基金会及哈佛大学弗朗姆音乐基金会作曲委约奖,美国古根汉基金会作曲研究奖金,美国国家艺术委员会和纽约州艺术基金会作曲家委约奖。周龙和陈怡的交响乐《虎门1839》(由广州交响乐团委约并首演)于2012年荣获中国全国音乐作品评比一等奖。周龙,1953年出生于中国北京。1973年开始向罗忠熔、黎英海、樊祖荫学习作曲,向严良坤学习指挥。1983年毕业于中央音乐学院,师从苏夏。曾任中国广播艺术团驻团作曲家。1985年获纽约哥伦比亚大学奖学金赴美攻读,师从周文中、达维多夫斯基和爱德华兹。1993年获音乐艺术博士学位。现任美国密苏里大学堪萨斯城音乐学院邦菲尔斯杰出作曲教授。
近年来,他完成了由上海交响乐团委约的乐队协奏曲《山海经》(2019年首演并由中国国家艺术基金资助演出),巴德学院与斯坦福大学联合委约的交响清唱剧《铁汉金钉》(2019年10月1日卡内基音乐厅首演),科隆国家广播交响乐团委约的大提琴协奏曲《酒狂》(2019年德累斯顿音乐节首演),南方科技大学委约的钢琴协奏曲《鹏程万里》,青岛交响乐团委约的《琴岛》序曲(由中国国家艺术基金资助演出),北京交响乐团委约的交响组曲《京华风韵》,伦敦威格摩尔音乐厅和纽约林肯中心室内乐协会联合委约的《九钟传奇》,新加坡交响乐团与BBC逍遥音乐节联合委约的钢琴协奏曲《态势》(2014音乐季首演),以及北京国际音乐节委约的整场大型交响史诗《九歌》(2013年首演)。周龙曾多次获中国文化部音乐作品比赛奖。其作品由世界众多著名音乐团体委约演出并录制唱片。周龙的乐谱由牛津大学出版社及上海音乐出版社专权出版。
Patrick Yim, violinist 