Balafan (2004) for piano and orchestra |
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Duration: 12 minutes
Program note: Being a native Taiwanese composer and pianist, I have been thinking for some time about writing a piece for piano and orchestra related to my own country. My piece, Balafan, is based on a song of the Ami people, an aboriginal tribe in Taiwan. Music is one of the most important parts of the Ami people’s daily life. Interestingly, there is no word for “music” in their language, only the word “song.” They sing for every occasion. “Balafan,” meaning literally shouting for joy, is also a particular song that they sing when visiting friends or when their friends visit. The Ami songs are sung by groups of people in various ways, including homophonic, leading/responsorial and polyphonic free, often highly ornamented contrapuntal styles. These musical characteristics were very much in my mind when I was composing this piece. This piece consists of three main sections. Starting with a piano solo, the original Balafan melody, based on a pentatonic scale, has been chromatically twisted, which I would like to use to symbolize the difficult struggle of the Ami’s cultural identity throughout history. Later after a very contrapuntal and fragmented presentation of the melody in both the piano and the orchestra parts, the music goes into the middle section, a dance with unexpected accents, grace notes and leading/responsorial writing between the piano and the orchestra. Gradually the texture becomes thicker and builds up with chordal and rhythmic intensity. Finally this section reaches a climax with the piano playing a huge double forearm cluster. The last section which follows is based on the alternation between the twisted melody and the original one. The latter, symbolizing purity and innocence, gradually takes over. |