related works
Psalm 136 "A Hymn of Thanksgiving" : for female choir / Man-Ching Yu Donald
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Female choir
Scoring:
VK
Chiaroscuro : version for ensemble, 1995/1996 / Willem Jeths
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
ob cl perc pf vl vc
Thin Air : Version for treble clef instruments (medium) / Calliope Tsoupaki
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
treble clef instruments
Fair Play : for trumpet and organ, 2001 / Joep Straesser
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Mixed ensemble (2-12 players)
Scoring:
trp org
composition
Lost Civilization : for chamber ensemble / Man-Ching Yu Donald
Other authors:
Yu, Donald
(Composer)
Description:
The piece is inspired by the Chinese modern artist Zhang Guanghai’s painting Lost Civilization. It is the first time to associate music with the particular painting. The beginning of the music initiates with haunting dissonances generated by strings as well as chromatically-blended woodwind sections, symbolizing the dark and profound color characterized in the painting. Gradually surging into the climax at the dramatic and micropolyphonic-oriented central section where all the instruments culminate at high registrations, here the music imaginarily generalizes the motion of the bird in the painting. After finishing the climax, the music transforms into a rather mysterious moment where harmonics take place at the strings, featuring the gaps and lines emerged in the painting. Besides symbolizing the painting, the music reflects my intrigued profound feeling towards the recent political situation in Hong Kong where only true democratic freedoms are strived for as if the bird in the painting surges into the sky, but not being controlled and bounded by the dark boundaries. All in all, the music is characterized by the utilization of extensive chromatic elements as elaborated melodic lines and micropolyphonic elements, while fusing with harmonics, dissonance and Chinese color including Peking operatic effect.
Man-Ching Donald Yu