Moon and Sun
for erhu, zheng, percussion and choir (2007; 11 min.)
More often than not these days, when I finish composing a piece I don’t have a title for it. There are three solutions to this dilemma: call it something generic (Sonata, String Quartet, etc.), deliberately goofy (Satie’s Dessicated Embryos, Zappa’s Son of Mr. Green Genes), or try to come up with a descriptive title suggesting the essence of the music. I usually go for the latter approach, and my method of choice is to look through the score, listen to the music run through my head, and jot on a piece of paper any and all words that come to mind, without censoring anything. Then I read over the list to find what resonates the most. I’m usually pretty happy with the results- Mystery Play and Mosaics and Webs being two recent examples.
I also arrived at Moon and Sun through this process. The opening and most of the slower music have a nocturnal, mysterious but still luminous quality to them, so “Moon” came to mind. The quicker sections for the most part are full of vital force and fire, hence “Sun.” I got a big kick out of writing for the beautiful colors of the Orchid Ensemble’s instruments, and strove to make the choir’s part equally colorful. Note that there are no words- nevertheless, I hope you’ll find the voices eloquent.
To me it’s both odd and wonderful that Chinese instruments and a choir somehow pulled me into a piece featuring an Afro-Cuban jazz groove with an extra half a beat. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll find myself writing a Viennese waltz in 3 1/4 for a Balinese gamelan. This is what I love about composing; I look forward to many more surprises.
performed by the Orchid Ensemble (Lan Tung, erhu; Bei Bei He, zheng; Jonathan Bernard, percussion) with the IWU Collegiate Choir, J. Scott Ferguson, Director (excerpt)