MUSICAL WORKS

CHAN Joshua Kam-biu / 陳錦標

1998

The Spring Garden / 春暉園
[chun hui yuan]

Birth Y: 1962 Birth C: HONG KONG Gender: Male

Dest: Concert

Media Specification: Mixed music

Commission: Hong Kong Arts Festival Society

Performer(s): Chu Siu-wai & Loo Sze-wang

First perf.: Theatre, Hong Kong City Hall, Hong Kong, 18 Feb 1998

Duration: 13:55

Perf. Country: HONG KONG

Context: Concert "Sonic Confluences - Hong Kong Arts Festival 1998"

Instruments: Dizi, sheng and live electronics

Media: CD-Rom

Prog. notes: "The sounds of the Chinese plucked-string instruments chin and guzheng have been used extensively by many composers to represent the pleasant ambience of the beautiful Chinese garden. One explanation may be that the soft pentatonic arpeggio on guzheng resembles the sound of the slow-moving water in stream and pond. The acoustic quality of plucked-string instruments, which has a sharp attack and fast decay, also provide a transparent, well-articulated sonic sculpture for such a scenery. The sounds of wind instruments dizi and sheng , on the other hand, do not have the same facility, i.e., natural fade-out after the initial attack; their well-sustained quality tends to provide narrative, subjective description of a given scenery. The higher frequency register and louder sound volume of dizi may even suggest vast open-space such as the Mongolian grassland. Finding the most appropriate musical materials on dizi and sheng to describe effectively the peacefulness and beauty of a traditional Chinese garden is therefore one of the real challenges of writing this piece. Or may the employment of ""inappropriate"" materials be the most original idea? It is also interesting to note the delicacy and subtle changes of electronic sounds featured at various places as both foreground and background materials, some of which tend to highlight particular acoustic components of the chin and guzheng .
很多作曲家都喜歡應用中國彈撥樂器古琴和古箏的聲音來描繪中國式庭園可愛美麗的情調。原因之一也許是古箏柔弱的五聲音階琵音酷似庭園溪池中緩慢流動的水聲。彈撥樂器聲嚮現象中的『尖銳落點悝硈t減退』本質也能提供這些園林景緻透徹清晰的聲嚮雕塑。但吹管樂器笛子和笙的聲音就沒有這種在發聲後自然消逝的本質，它們聲嚮持續化的特質傾向於啟示出一種較敘事化及主觀化的手法來描繪景物內在的一面。笛子較高的音域和較強的音量可能更有效於描述像蒙古大草原般的廣闊空間感。因此創作這首作品的真正挑戰之一可算是要為笛子和笙找出最適合和最有效的音樂素材來描述傳統中國式庭園的美麗與祥和。但應用『不合適』的音樂素材會否才是最有原創性的主意呢﹖請留意樂曲中一些特寫性電子聲音的精緻微妙的聲嚮轉化，它們有些是音樂最表面的素材也有些是背景素材，當中傾向擇要出一些常出現在古琴和古箏的聲嚮元素。"

Editor: Ka Lun CHEUNG

Phono: CD-Rom: Published (partially) on the CD-ROM

Comment: See: http://web.hku.hk/~jkbchan/P/SpringGarden.htm, http://web.hku.hk/~jkbchan/Complist.htm.