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Lost Dialects
for oboe, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, percussion, cello
(2008)
- Duration 9'
- Premiere November 1, 2008, by the Argento Chamber Ensemble, conducted by Michel Galante, at Merkin Hall, New York.
Program Notes
A dialect from the deep northwest “yellow earth” region in China has descended from over two thousand years ago. Its boorish roughness and boisterous power beyond language itself reflects an immense age-old human struggle through feelings of wild desperation at the barrenness of the land.
The use of hyperactive registers, extreme pressure on the instruments, textural density, and combative broken lines in this piece results from the convulsions and gesticulations of this ancient dialect. Far more than a mere sonic affect, it expresses an innermost struggle that all humans share, which cannot be conveyed by words.
– Wang Lu