On March 21, 2024 professor Frank J. Oteri brought students from his class “Analyzing and Placing Music in Historical Context” at The New School College of Performing Arts to the Chou Wen-chung Centennial Concert at Miller Theatre in NYC. The students reviewed the concert for an assignment, this is one of those reviews.
Chou Wen-chung Centennial Concert Review
By Jaden Lewis-King
”Analyzing and Placing Music in Historical Context” Spring 2024
Professor Frank J. Oteri | The New School College of Performing Arts
The Chou Wen-Chung Centennial Concert “A Retrospective” on March 21, 2024 at Columbia University's Miller Theatre was a celebration of life, music and legacy. Chou’s music was performed by the Continuum group, Joel Sachs, conductor, which is an ensemble dedicated to the performance of works by live composers. Five different and distinct musical selections and a panel discussion held by his closest friends, historians and family members helped to put his life and legacy into perspective and humanize his music and point of view through firsthand accounts and stories. The panel was a lens which allowed the audience to see Chou’s impact on Chinese and Western music.
The concert had five musical selections: In the Mode of Shang (1956), Yu Ko (1965), Twilight Colors (2007), The Willows are New (1957), and Ode to Eternal Pine (2009), followed by a repeat performance of In the Mode of Shang to close the concert. These selections highlighted pillar points in Chou Wen-Chung’s music and acted as a timeline for his life and compositional career.
Joel Sachs, an intimate friend and collaborator of Wen-Chung was perfect at leading from a place of tenderness and care and it showed in the response from the musicians right from the opening of In the Mode of Shang. Rightfully so, as In the Mode of Shang and The Willows are New were the foundations of the night. Luyen Chou, one of the composer’s two sons, described them as love songs. The story however is overshadowed by grief, given that Chou dedicated In the Mode of Shang to his first wife, Katherine “Poyu” Chou, who died within months of their wedding. The work remained unpublished until after Chou’s death and the world premiere of the piece as Chou originally envisioned was given by the Xinghai Conservatory Orchestra conducted by Bing Chen in November 2023. The performance heard at the New York concert was only its second time being heard in its original orchestration (three times total, if you were to count the replay).
One of the main things touched upon on the panel was love being the impetus behind most of his works, and particularly In the Mode of Shang as the depiction of a man in love. For me this also showed the intricacies of Chou and his homogenization of traditional Chinese music and traditional Western contemporary music. What was so effective about most of his orchestration was the small size of the wind section (one player per instrument) which added a layer of transparency to the music.
The Willows Are New, Chou’s sole piece for solo piano, had no dedication, but during the panel discussion, his son Luyen Chou mentioned it was inspired by his father’s chance meeting with pianist Chang Yi-An, whom Chou wen-Chung would ultimately marry. This composition is inspired by text about bonds and parting ways. It's safe to say that the emotions and symbolisms of this piece to his life and family history are prolific, and it has a nostalgic feel which Sachs enacted well with a lot of pace and emotion. There was a care to his notes and silence wasn't a fear but an ally in his performance.
Highlights of the concert were some of Chou’s other works: Twilight Colors and Ode to Eternal Pine. In Twilight Colors, Chou sought to capture the changing skies over the Hudson River, which has been a source of inspiration for many artists. Interestingly enough it brought him back to his past life as an architect where he was able to take artistic inspiration in a visual medium and turn it into the ambient, beautiful soundscape he created in this work. The piece was scored for double trio, and solos by the violin, English horn and cello were stand-outs. Ode to Eternal Pine was composed in the spirit and style of traditional Korean chong ak (upper class/higher class) music and is the only piece Chou composed with an Asian, but non-Chinese, inspiration. The ancient form of chamber music sought to express the range of human emotion inspired by natural phenomena which have inspired East Asian minds for centuries. The emphasis is on the fluidity of the concurrent flow of instrumental voices, characteristic of chong ak, rather than exploitation of novel instrumental colors. This piece was different than all the others in that the percussion (bells, cymbals, chimes, gong, drums) dominated. Although it wasn't my favorite piece its contrast was stark and needed.
The other piece on the program, Yü Ko, showed more of Chou’s interest in ancient Chinese traditions. Translated to “fisherman’s song”, it is a pure example of the tablature notation from the thirteenth century. The notation is similar to that used for lute and modern guitar music which indicates the actual placement of the fingers instead of showing the physical notes. Ending the night with a second performance of “In the Mode of Shang” felt redundant at first but as it went, the lyricism and beauty carried through and was a great way to end all that had been heard leaving nothing more to be desired.