Transcendental Music Graphics of Dots, Lines, Planes
Chow Fan-fu
The principle of “dot, line and plane” is easily understood in graphic art, but it may also be applied to the projected images used with the music in this concert – or, for that matter, to the description of plucked-string music in general. Plucked-string instruments date back to ancient times and come in many forms. Those documented in China consist of over forty types, among which the qin and se existed in as early as the Zhou Dynasty 3,000 years ago. Yet regardless of their origin and kind, plucked-string instruments share one common characteristic, which is the granular effect of the sounds they make, representable by the graphic “dot”.
When “dots” come alive in music
For these dots to form melodic “lines” and the “lines” to form “planes” or even “three-dimensional blocks”, to be aesthetically pleasing like paintings and sculptures, and to have dynamic qualities that engage the listener, it requires virtuosity and musicianship on the part of the composers and plucked-string players.
The concert ‘Plucked-string Notes’ offers an opportunity to understand how this can be done – it is by no means a mere touch with the fingertips, or the casual strumming on the strings. The eight works that make up the programme, be they new compositions or taken from the traditional repertoire, original or adapted, would show what a feat it is to turn “dots” into animated music that take on a life of its own.
Perhaps the lightness associated with the concert title is more apt for the listening experience. From duets to an 18-member ensemble, not only do the eight pieces differ in their performing formats, every one of them has its own unique theme and style of expression. Whether composed or adapted, these works by composers from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan transcend time and place. When the music is further enhanced with projected images, the virtual and the real produce a feast of audio-visual effects that guarantees a delightfully stress-free aesthetic experience for the audience.
Eleven different images
Ng Cheuk-yin’s new work Between the Dots and the Lines can be taken as a “sketch” drawn by the dots and lines of plucked-string instruments. Flower Drums of Fengyang–A Rhapsody adapted by Peng Yu-Wen and Chen Yi-Chien for plucked-string ensemble fuses chords and rhythms of jazz and Latin music with a folk tune from the traditional Chinese repertoire. It makes one wonder isn’t it analogous of a cartoon drawn on Chinese xuan bamboo paper? The Henan Bantouqu tune High Mountain and Flowing Water for sanxian and zheng can be likened to a Chinese ink landscape. The yangqin duet Misty by Chen Chuan-Yu and Quietly for pipa quartet by Li Boshan are like abstract paintings with accessible, viewer-friendly contents. Ruan quartet The Night of the Torch Festival by Wu Junsheng reminds one of a Chinese oil painting with its deep and rich colours. Yan Huichang’s adaptation of three Chinese Folk songs – The Riddle Song, Orchid Flowers and Green Are the Willows – for plucked-string quintet can best be compared to three sketches.
The finale is a Hong Kong premiere of Jen Chung’s plucked-string ensemble piece, Smangus, the Night Sky and Giant Cypress Trees. Its theme is inspired by the night sky and the cypress forest of Smangus in Jianshih Township, Hsinchu, where Taiwan’s most inland indigenous Atayal tribe lives in the high altitudes. Highly suggestive of two magnificent and primal rock murals on the mountainside, the weight of these two “murals” is probably one reason why it has been chosen as the finale for the concert.
The images projected in the concert in tandem with the music will not be these eleven different types of paintings. Neither will the said pictures appear in your mind’s eye when you listen with your eyes closed. But undoubtedly what you see and hear after you close your eyes will be images that best complement the plucked-string music.
