Song of the Flaming Phoenix 火凤凰的笙音

a Symphonic Poem for Sheng (mouth organ) and Large Orchestra (2020-21)

为笙和大管弦乐队创作的交响诗

(2022 Original Version: Quadruple Winds)

2022年四管乐队版本

Scott Weiss, Conductor

Wu Wei, Sheng

University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra

Koger Center for the Arts, Columbia, SC

In Celebration of the 100 Anniversary of School of Music

at the University of South Carolina

(2024 Version: Triple Wind)

2024年三管乐队版本

Marzena Diakun, Conductor

Wu Wei, Sheng

OSPAFEST ORQUESTA SINFÓNICA

DEL PRINCIPADO DE ASTURIAS

(Spanish Premiere)

Program Notes:

When I was three, my mother bought me a toy piano. I was obsessed with it and played it all the time, so she decided to buy me a real one. In the early 80s in China a piano was very expensive to afford (it almost doubled my family’s yearly expenses), but she was a strong and determined person. She bought a piano and arranged to have it shipped to my hometown, JiuJiang, over 1,000 kilometers away from Guangzhou. As I grew up, she accompanied me to piano competitions, music school auditions, and performances–no matter where, she was always there to support me.

During the 20 months of working on Song of the Flaming Phoenix, my mother’s health declined. The compositional process was slow and difficult; I would write a few measures, then make phone calls with doctors and family in China for hours. No matter how sick she was, she would always smile when I told her about my work. On the night I was writing the final bars of the piece, my father called to tell me that my mother had passed away. It felt as if she held her last breath, waiting for me to finish this piece, as if she knew that I would be too sad to continue.

The idea of this work came from Esa-Pekka Salonen’s initial proposal to pair a piece of mine with Scriabin’s Prometheus. Song of the Flaming Phoenix was composed using inspiration of the octatonic sets and the color schemes of Prometheus. Reflecting another great loss in my life, the very last conversation I had with my mentor Steven Stucky before he passed was about the tetrachords in Lutosławski’s music in relation to the octatonic set.

The Fenghuang, known as the Phoenix, was considered the king of all birds in Chinese mythology.

“Of the five elements, its green head represented wood, its white neck metal, its red back fire, its black chest water, and its yellow feet earth. Its feathers were patterned to represent written characters: on its head a “德“ for "virtue"; on each of its wings a “义“ for "righteousness"; on its back a “礼“ for "courtesy"; on its chest a “仁” for "benevolence"; and on its belly a “信” for “trust”. When the four virtues of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, and trust were displayed on its body–and with its every auspicious appearance–the world was at peace.” (Excerpt taken from Fantastic creatures of the Mountains and Seas text by Jiankun Sun, translated by Howard Goldblatt).

In the latter half of Song of the Flaming Phoenix, I translated the birdsongs heard in my backyard in South Carolina into seven other mythical birds: Yu (Carolina Chickadee), Changfu (Carolina Wren), Manman (Yellow-Rumped Warbler), Luan (Tufted Titmouse), Lingyao (Northern Cardinal & Summer Tanager), Qiyu (Red-breasted Nuthatch & Northern Mockingbird), and Min (Blue-gray Gnatcatcher). I imagine that the Fenghuang lead her feathered friends from heaven to save humanity from the ongoing disasters.

The solo instrument Sheng is the world’s oldest free-reed mouth organ, with a history of more than 3,000 years. It is a representation of 凤凰 (fenghuang) Phoenix, 和 (he) Harmony, and 笙 (sheng) - 生 life. I also noticed that the flag of the city of San Francisco depicts a rising phoenix, symbolic of the city’s recovery from the 1906 earthquake and subsequent fires.

The piece is dedicated to Wu Wei (Sheng virtuoso), Maestro Salonen, and the San Francisco Symphony, in the memory of my mother (1940-2022).

当我三岁时，母亲为我买下了一架玩具钢琴。我对它非常迷恋，日日夜夜地弹奏，直至母亲决定为我购置一架真钢琴。在八十年代初的中国，钢琴犹如珍宝，价格之高几乎是我们家庭年支出的两倍，但母亲是一位坚定而勇敢的女性。她为我买下了那架钢琴，并安排将它运送到我位于千里之外的家乡九江。时光流逝，她始终陪伴在我身边，参加钢琴比赛、音乐学校的考试和演出——无论身处何地，她的支持如同温暖的阳光，始终照耀着我。

在创作《火凤凰的笙音》的20个月里，我母亲的健康逐渐恶化。创作过程缓慢而艰难；我写下几小节，然后又和中国的医生和家人通电话，聊很久。无论她多么虚弱，每当我告诉她我的创作时，她总是微笑着聆听。就在我写下这部作品最后几小节的那个夜晚，父亲打电话告诉我，母亲去世了。那一刻，我感到她仿佛在等待我的创作完成，似乎知道我会因为失去她而无法继续。

这部作品的构思源于指挥家埃萨-佩卡·萨洛宁最初的提议，即将我的一部作品与斯克里亚宾的《普罗米修斯》放在同一场演出中。《火凤凰的笙音》的创作灵感来自于八音阶的音组和《普罗米修斯》的色彩方案。它也反映了我生命中另一个巨大的丧失：在我的导师史蒂文·斯图基去世前，我们最后一次的对话是关于波兰作曲家卢托斯瓦夫斯基音乐中的四和音与八音阶音组之间的关系。

凤凰在中国神话中被视为所有鸟类之王：

“在五行中，它的绿色头代表木，白色颈代表金，红色背代表火，黑色胸代表水，黄色脚代表土。它的羽毛上有书写的字符：头上是‘德’，象征‘美德’；每只翅膀上是‘义’，象征‘正义’；背上是‘礼’，象征‘礼仪’；胸前是‘仁’，象征‘仁爱’；腹上是‘信’，象征‘信任’。当仁爱、正义、礼仪和信任四种美德在它的身上展现时，伴随着它每一次吉祥的出现，世界便会安宁。” （摘自《山海经》，翻译：霍华德·戈德布拉特）

在《火凤凰的笙音》的后半部分，将我南卡罗来纳家后院中听到的鸟鸣转化为七种其他神话鸟类：如颙（卡罗来纳山雀）、尚付/尚鸟付鸟（卡罗来纳鹪鹩）、蠻蠻（黄臀鹀）、鸾（白头鹦雀）、鸰䳩（北方红雀和夏天黄雀）、鵸鵌（红胸山雀和北方嘲鸫）、鴖（蓝灰短尾莺）。我想象凤凰带领她的羽翼朋友们从天而降，把人类从不断的灾难之中拯救出来。

独奏乐器笙是世界上最古老的自由簧乐器，已有超过3000年的历史。它象征着凤凰（fenghuang）、和谐（he）与生命（sheng）。我还注意到旧金山的市旗描绘了一只升起的凤凰，象征着这座城市从1906年地震及随后的火灾中恢复的力量。

此曲献给笙演奏大师吴巍、指挥大师萨洛宁以及旧金山交响乐团，并以此曲怀念我的母亲（1940-2022）。

Duration:

ca. 30 minutes

乐曲时长大约30分钟

Instrumentation:

Solo Sheng (mouth organ); 4 Flutes (3rd & 4th dlb Piccolo; 2nd dlb alto Flute);

4 Oboes (4th dlb English Horn); 4 Clarinets (3rd & 4th dlb Bass Clarinet);

4 Bassoons (4th Contrabassoon); 4 Horns; 4 Trumpets; 4 Trombones (4th Bass Trombone)

1 Tuba; 1 Timpani; 4 Percussions; 1 Harp; 1 Piano/Celesta; Strings 14,12,10,8,6

Premiere:

March 3, 4, 5, 2022