Music

“What’s real to me is the moment before one pre-hears music, before the imagination transforms to sounds.”
—Evelyn Chang
“What’s real to me is the moment on stage when my soul is exposed and all my emotions are revealed. In that moment, my world is innocent and pure like a child, but at the same time it is rational and calm like an old man.”
—Wong Wai-yin
“When telepathy happens between us, that’s the moment how we perceive the spectrum of REAL.”
—Duo Ping; Ting
Over a century of inspiration across cultures and aesthetic

INTRODUCTION

This concert offers a chance to enjoy some of the most noteworthy French and Chinese piano music from the beginning of the 20th century, with a screening of Edgard Varèse: The One All Alone to help place the relationship between these two artistic cultures in context, revealing fascinating connections.

In the formative decades of the 20th century, respected Chinese composers He Luting and Jiang Wenye were strongly influenced by the new techniques and sensibilities of Debussy and the French Impressionist movement.

One of their students, Chou Wenchung, was based in America and was also a protégé of Frenchman Edgar Varèse, influential pioneer of “timbre” and electronic music.

In turn, Chou’s students Zhou Long, Chen Yi and Tan Dun became outstanding composers in their own right, for all three Chinese folk music was an important reference.

In France, Chen Qigang was Olivier Messiaen’s last pupil, described as displaying “a total assimilation of Chinese thinking to European musical concepts”.

Joyce Tang and Lawrence Lau represent the new voices of Hong Kong today; their prolific works in instrumental and electronic media have formed an ever-growing force.

Relish some of Hong Kong and Taiwan’s most distinguished pianists paying tribute to these shared French and Chinese musical sensibilities.

PROGRAMME

6pm-7:30pm | Screening
Edgard Varèse: The One All Alone (2009)
Directed by Frank Scheffer
90mins, in English with English and Chinese subtitles

The One All Alone by Frank Scheffer is an expedition into the life and work of the French-American composer Edgard Varèse (1883-1965). The full-length documentary includes rare footage of Varèse, and interviews with Pierre Boulez and Elliott Carter. Chou Wenchung is interviewed in Varèse’s New York City home, and discusses the influence of his former teacher on site in Shanghai and Santa Fe. Musical performances feature Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly, who offers an inimitably informed impression of the composer’s adventurous sense of musical expression.

8pm | Piano Concert
He Luting
Evening Party
The Cowherd’s Flute
Wong Wai-yuen

Jiang Wenye
Bagatelles
Wong Wai-yuen

Chou Wenchung
The Willows Are New
Wong Wai-yin

Jolivet
Mana, six pieces for piano
Wong Wai-yin

Joyce Tang
Images, Colors
Evelyn Chang

Tan Dun
Eight Memories in Color, Op 1
Evelyn Chang

Lawrence Lau
Towards a Mirror for two pianos
Duo Ping & Ting

Chen Yi
China West Suite for two pianos
Duo Ping & Ting

Zhou Long
Pianogongs
Evelyn Chang

Chen Qigang
Instant d’un opéra de Pékin
Evelyn Chang

Debussy
Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune for two pianos
Wong Wai-yin and Wong Wai-yuen