Color Garden
for pipa (2010; 11 min.)
One of the things I most enjoy about composing is drawing on the full range of tone colors and expressive techniques that an instrument can produce; or to put it another way, finding ways for the instrument to speak with many voices. This is a special adventure when the instrument is new to me as a composer. The opportunities I have had to write for traditional Chinese instruments have therefore been particularly invigorating; the individual characteristics of these instruments are quite fascinating and sometimes unexpected, nudging my creativity in intriguing new directions. The process works in reverse when I hand over my score to a performer; there are often details in my scores- not only techniques, but also melodic figures or chord voicings- that are new to him or her and help to expand the instrument’s range of expression and technique. Perhaps this is the most helpful contribution a composer such as myself, who respects but is from outside of an instrument’s traditional musical culture, can make. Color Garden was written for the pipa virtuoso Yang Wei, who premiered it at Illinois Wesleyan University in January, 2011.
Yang Wei, pipa; David Vayo, voice