MUSICAL WORKS

ZHANG Xiao-fu / 张小夫

2007

Visages peint dans les Opéras de Pékin / The Mask / 脸谱 / lian pu

Birth Y: 1954 Birth C: CHINA Gender: Male

Dest: Concert

Media Specification: Mixed music

Commission: French state

Duration: 17:50

Instruments: 5 groups of percussion, electroacoustic music (8-track) and digital images

Prog. notes: All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts…——William Shakespeare: As You Like It  // In time-honoured Peking opera, there are four main types of roles which follow traditionally fixed patterns for specific types to highlight the disposition and quality in the personages so that the audience may immediately identify them:"sheng" is the positive male role, "dan" is the positive female role, "jing" is a supporting male role with striking character and "chou" is the comedian or clown. Apart from distinguishable vocal territura, every type has its telltale facial makeup and decoration pattern--i.e. Lianpu, which clearly denotes the nature of each character. // “Visages peint dans les Opéra de Pékin”, was a commissione d'etat of France, for the world-renowned PCL percussion group and electroacoustic music. The composer attempted in this work to revise the set of percussions----the soul of Peking opera music----into the classification of material criterion, i.e. leathern, bronze, wooden and clavier----these acoustic patterns are an interesting couplet (counterpoint) to the four facial makeup patterns: sheng, dan, jing and chou, as well as the four major vocal patterns in Peking opera: chang(singing), nian(reciting), shuo(speaking voice) and yunbai(rhythmical declamation). Electroacoustic methods are utilized in the transformation and synthesization of varius percussion and vocal sound.  A completely new kind of "acoustic facial makeup patterns" is vividly portrayed. 

Editor: Ka Lun CHEUNG

Comment: http://www.musicacoustica.cn/english/show_tracks_show.asp?newsid=468