Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán's "Third Piano Sonata" Recording: The Best Piano Sonata Written by a Chinese Person Before Age 18
2006/11/14 0:59:57
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán
"Third Piano Sonata" Recording
The Best Piano Sonata Written by a Chinese Person Before Age 18
At noon I said that tonight there's a big social event at the Guibinlou Hotel. Master Kong would have to be neglected for a day, but I had to give this ID's high school "Third Piano Sonata" a global online premiere. Just got back, not sleepy, so let me settle this promise first.
When this ID says that the "Third Piano Sonata" written in high school is the best piano sonata written by a Chinese person before age 18, this is absolutely not bragging -- it's based on evidence. Those with the conditions and possibility to write piano sonatas before 18 would have to be born in the '70s or '80s at the earliest. People before that simply didn't have the conditions. Someone like Tan Dun, for instance, due to circumstances, hadn't even seen a piano before age 18. China's earliest music students, such as Li Shutong, Xiao Youmei, and Huang Zi, also started at a relatively advanced age. Those born around the time of Liberation all went for nationalization and had even less possibility of writing piano sonatas before 18 -- the kind of game that Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert loved to play. As for the post-Cultural Revolution generation, if anyone could write one before 18, by all means bring it out and compare with this ID. This ID has never considered anyone a rival.
To be honest, this work is certainly quite poor by current standards -- after all, it was written in high school, and I hadn't yet formally studied composition. But this four-movement work was already quite well-formed. Actually, what this ID wrote best in high school were art songs, which even now are worth preserving. Those songs were mostly set to poetry by Shakespeare, Goethe, and others. Some Chinese poets too, like "Standing on the Earth, Trumpeting" (embarrassingly, that's by Guo Moruo), "Second Farewell to Cambridge," and so on -- but all art songs. By the end of high school, this ID had completed about 600 art songs. Not bad, right? As for the trivial matter of university entrance exams -- don't bother asking. While others were studying for exams, this ID was composing, though I didn't major in composition. Composition was studied one-on-one with a famous old man before and during university. Now, let me first talk about this piano sonata.
First movement, sonata form -- quite good for that age, especially the coda, handled with real character. The best part is the overall balance of the movement: 384 measures, each section exactly 128 measures. Generally, a kid under 18 would find this very difficult. Second movement, compound ternary form -- most distinctive is the middle section, with a long melody spanning dozens of measures, extremely rich in emotion, which is also very rare for someone under 18. Third movement, a simple variation form, somewhat childlike, with the last two variations suddenly shifting rhythm and leading without pause into the fourth movement -- a large binary form. The A section is march-style, the B section a small rondo. This fourth movement has a certain distinction; generally people don't write it this way.
It's late, I won't say more. Everyone just listen. Due to the audio format conversion, the sound quality isn't ideal -- there's quite a bit of noise. Make do with it. I won't write about Master Kong today; I'll continue tomorrow. What I wrote yesterday is not easy to understand, and this piece takes over 20 minutes to perform. Those interested can listen a couple of times -- one hearing probably won't reveal much.
Comments
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán 2006/11/14 1:13:00
It's very late now, probably nobody's around. Let me say "good morning" to everyone in advance.
Help yourselves to lollipops -- the lollipops here come in every shape, just not stick-shaped. Pick your own.
The hotpot restaurant will be open as usual tomorrow. This is a public notice.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán 2006/11/14 1:14:44
It's very late now, probably nobody's around. Let me say "good morning" to everyone in advance.
Help yourselves to lollipops -- the lollipops here come in every shape, just not stick-shaped. Want a stick shape? DIY.
The hotpot restaurant will be open as usual tomorrow. This is a public notice.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán 2006/11/14 20:23:01
Real Men Do You
2006-11-14 14:46:56
A reborn Mozart?
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He was composing at age 5. Don't compare with him.
Chán Zhōng Shuō Chán 2006/11/14 1:10:07
Music cannot be explained. Whatever you do, don't ask this ID what this music "means." If you do, this ID will look down on you. If you can't understand it, go listen to Jay Chou -- nobody's stopping you.