Output details

Mandarin. Erhu (Chinese violin) concerto

Research content/process:

Originating in Seltz’s travels in China and his encounter with Peng Yueqiang, first erhu of Shenzhen Huaxia Folk Orchestra, Mandarin takes as its point of departure a mismatch between the status of an instrument and the repertory that has evolved for it. The ehru is growing in popularity in Chinese musical culture but is anchored in a repertory of music that exploits predominantly folk idioms. Mandarin brings the instrument into the domain of Western contemporary music, and was premiered by Peng Yueqiang and Mr McFall’s Chamber, musicians from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra who are dedicated to the performance of new music, in May 2009. The erhu is both assimilated into the Western ensemble and then exploited for its extended techniques, but also deploys traditional techniques in opposition to the rest of the ensemble. The piece requires the erhu soloist to play in equal temperament, and employ scales and modes found in different musical cultures of China (from the majority Han music to Muslim Hui) with the addition of accidentals pushing the tonality towards intrusive scales such as the whole tone and chromatic scales. Extended erhu techniques include double stops, harmonics, pizzicato and strumming. The erhu is especially suited to reproduce the inflections of human speech as much of the playing relies on sliding to and from target pitches. In order to maximise this effect, Mandarin’s musical material is configured from the four tones applicable to vowels in the Mandarin language. Lasting 19 minutes, Mandarin is scored for solo ehru, clarinet, marimba, guitar and strings. It was commissioned by the Edinburgh University Confucianism Society with funds from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, and was performed in Taiwan in December 2013.