Observations from a Film - (Miriam Lang) (PDF ... - East Asian History

168MIRIAM LANGExample 2 -bars 6-76I'"'- ..., ,. - .... .---' +- - _ .. ....,> 1 . ..--.... h.J. -r;'=- ===-- -I J...I..'J f'-_ =-rIf'If:==--1 J iiI.:- -"'J",.. . -The melody is next heard in a harmonized arrangement for a Chinesestring ensemble (erbu, gaobu, guzbeng, and so on) with xiao (a soft-tonedvertical bamboo flute) and woodblock played by Qu's friends, the DuanzhouSquare musicians. The young pianist, Yunzhi, who is searching for Cantonesemusic sources for her own compositions, makes notes as she listens; thenwe hear her first imaginings of a reworking of Qu's theme, with the melodyintact as the basis of a kind of romantic ballade or fantasy for solo piano.The climax of the film presents the pianist'S finished composition forpiano and orchestra, Wild Goose Spirit, based on Qu Laoshu's melodicmaterial. It is lavishly scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets,two bassoons, four homs, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, sidedrum, cymbals, xylophone, harp and strings. In contrast to Qu Laoshu's'-->oJ- . ..--- ... 1 -... -- - ---" ---- -.. ;t -- --- --> .. -- -ta.. -t.0)4-J--: .- , ,' . .od - - - --• ,iJ.. ...---..... ,t=...- -:' ---"'f I--!1:-- ---:::... ..,...-, Y"--. r- ... ..Y" -' J...."-" "- -' > - " ,.--.,intense but unostentatious original mu­sic, much of this composition is loud,percussive and impassioned. The finalcomposition begins in the rather unusual5/4 time-signature in the key ofE major; in the course of the compositionthe metre changes back to 4/4 andthe music modulates to the unrelatedtonality of B-flat major and then backagain.The 'Chinese' flavour of this compositionis provided not only by briefquotations from Qu Laoshu's themebut also by imitations of guzbeng techniquesin both the piano and harpparts. The harp imitates the 'pressedstring'(anxian n:) technique inwhich, after the string has been plucked,the left hand pushes it down, thus raisingthe pitch; a similar effect is achievedon the harp by pressing on the soundboard. Glissandi in both piano andharp parts are also reminiscent of thesound of the guzbeng.When an eight-bar quotation of theopening phrases of "The Wild GooseFlies in the Cloudy Sky" is played by asolo flute, her 'plagiarizing' of Qu Laoshu'smelody is immediately obvious.A little less obviously, fragments ofQu's melody form the whole melodicbasis of Wild Goose Spirit. The rhythmof the first four notes of Qu's compositionis altered and two more notes are