“Four Cities" and “Four Impressions of China" by Duo Incarnadine
UPDATE: Album release by Leaf Music on April 26, 2024!
Leah Plave, cello; Tong Wang, piano
Leaf Music LPTW2023
Release Date: April 26, 2024
A reflection on heritage and nostalgia, Tong Wang and Leah Plave’s album, Black Sea, Orange Tree, tells the story of train rides through the Himalayas, ancient folk dances and rowdy bar fights, glittering golden temples, and the smell of tea leaves. Composer Fazil Say’s “Four Cities” and Alice Ping Yee Ho’s “Four Impressions of China” weave special techniques into lush melodies, at times beautifully transforming the cello and piano into traditional Turkish and Chinese instruments.
Concert at Podium Vocale in Den Haag, Netherlands. February 12, 2023.
Our recording and concert in Montreal is scheduled for mid September and we’re aiming to release the album with Leaf Music Distribution in Spring of 2024! Featuring the world premiere of a deeply personal work written for us by Alice Ho, “Four Impressions of China”.
Montreal
September 17, 2023 @ 2PM
Cedar House
by RSVP only
Program
“Four Cities” (2003)
by Fazil Say
Sivas
Hopa
Ankara
Bodrum
“Four Impressions of China” (2023)
by Alice Ho
commissioned by and written for Tong Wang and Leah Plave
Hunan - a folk song
Tibet - train ride through the Himalayas
Hailongjiang - dance of the "Black Dragon'', "Winter Lullaby" transition to
Hong Kong - night at the Harbour
Four Impressions of China
This work is a four movement suite written for cello and piano inspired by the four parts of China: “Hunan”, “Tibet”, “Hailongjiang”, and “Hong Kong”. These four regions of China, each with its own distinct culture and magnificent landscapes, are presented in a musical journey that tells the stories, sceneries, and human experiences in a poetic approach.
The music of “Hunan” is invented from a Chinese folk song 節氣歌 “The Song of the Solar Terms”- an old tune that sung by ancient ancestors in compliance with the agricultural season, observing the movement of celestial bodies, and understanding the changing laws of natural rhythms. The tranquil yet joyful nature of the music is a sentimental memoir of an individual growing up in the city of Lixian in Hunan: playing in the rivers while watching her grandmother washing clothes, the description of lush greeneries of hills with orange trees and the smell of tea leaves.
“Tibet” is an imaginary train ride through the Himalayas to the city of Lhasa. Music is grand and vibrant, depicting the breathtaking landscape of Himalayas, the exciting journey through the city of Lhasa to worship in the golden temples, hearing the sound of the chanting of the monks, and feel the pulse of the city when vendors and visitors mingle.
The music of “Heilongjiang” is inspired by the name “The Black Dragon River”- which is one of China’s four great rivers unfurling up to Russia in the north. The vigorous and dramatic first section imagines a dance of the “Black Dragon” to symbolize the province’s fierce winters and the dormant volcanoes of Wudalian Chi beckon beyond the capital Harbin. The tranquil second section is a winter lullaby relating to the famous ice festivals when locals celebrate the cold winters with warm hearts.
“Hong Kong” captures the night scenes where locals gather at the harbor and lively night markets. Music unfolds the magical view of the Victoria Harbor glittering with city lights, there are the sounds of street performers singing and playing traditional instruments. One can interpret the “convergence” of mixing musical elements through a series of encounters in a cosmopolitan city, and the nostalgia of past and present through political challenges.
This piece is commissioned by the wonderful duo cellist Leah Plave and pianist Tong Wang through the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Alice Ping Yee Ho
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Project: “Four Cities x2”
This project involves ethnomusicology fieldwork research in Turkey and China, documentary filming, and the commission, recording, and performance of a new work. The resulting two-part documentary aims at better understanding the roots of traditional music from Turkey and China and advocating for their role and significance in the context of contemporary music.
My duo partner, cellist Leah Plave, and I will travel to Turkey to immerse ourselves in the environments that inspired Turkish pianist-composer Fazil Say’s work for cello and piano, “Four Cities (2013)”. Each movement in this piece is dedicated to one city, and we will visit them respectively: Ankara, Sivas, Trabzon, and Bodrum. Next, we will replicate this process by traveling to four cities in China: Lixuan (Hunan Sanka), Huma County (Heilongjiang), Hong Kong, and Tibet- to learn about the lands and people portrayed in a new commission written by Chinese Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho.
While in each of these cities, we will attend concerts of traditional music in a variety of settings (both formal and informal), explore other mediums of local art, cuisine, and natural landscape. We believe that all of these elements which make up a city’s culture are best understood in person, rather than online, as there is more opportunity for spontaneous, unique discovery and deeply-felt appreciation. Afterwards, we will return to Montreal to create a professional audio-visual recording of the two pieces, as well as two video documentaries which will be made using footage from our travels and accompanied by the audio recording. Each documentary will last the duration of the music (approximately 16 minutes and 25 minutes long, respectively). After the album and documentary are made, we will be giving a performance of both Say and Ho’s “Four Cities” in Montreal in September 2023.
With this project, we will document our progress of learning about local people in the cities and customs through hands-on experience. Our documentary will provide audiences a fresh perspective into contemporary music that combines folk and classical elements while also promoting appreciation and understanding of different cities and cultures from Turkey and China. We aim to present a multidimensional perspective into the lives and voices of the local people and their music.
This project not only bridges multiple cultures by giving the public access to traditions, art, and landscapes of geographical regions that are lesser known in North America, but it also provides an opportunity to explore my personal identity as an immigrant and multicultural artist. By commissioning a new work from a fellow first-generation immigrant musician from China, I can further explore, understand, and rediscover my roots, paying homage to a long lineage of family history and heritage. I will be visiting the childhood cities of my parents and retracing their steps before they left China in search of a better future. This process will be deeply impactful and valuable as I unravel stories and challenges faced by a diasporic population and strengthen a connection to my Chinese background.
The key artists leading this project have been closely collaborating for many years. Canadian pianist Tong Wang and American cellist Leah Plave met in Montreal (2017), where they embarked upon a musical journey together as part of Z4 Piano Quartet. Their ensemble subsequently won the grand prize at McGill’s Chamber Music Competition, leading them to concerts and artist residencies in Beijing and Nova Scotia. They later performed together as part of a Lincoln Center Stage piano quintet that toured the Pacific Northwest (USA) for over four months, featuring chamber music programs of a diverse range of styles and genres. Tong and Leah have performed countless recitals throughout Canada, the USA, China, and Northern Europe, often specializing in lesser-known repertoire by women and contemporary composers. As founders and artistic directors of the Montreal Music Collective, they gave monthly chamber music concerts for the city of Montreal from 2019-2020, all of which featured great works under-represented and marginalized composers. The pair were most recently featured as guest artists at FIMU in Belfort, France where they performed Say’s “Four Cities” and developed interest in exploring this work further.
Alice Ho is a Canadian composer writing in many musical genres. She has received numerous national and international awards, including the du Maurier Arts Ltd. Canadian Composers Competition, MACRO International Composition Competition, Luxembourg International Composition Prize and International League of Women Composers Competition. Influences in her eclectic approach include Chinese folk and operatic idioms, Japanese Taiko and African drumming, and jazz. A twice JUNO Award Nominee, she has an extensive discography released on the Centrediscs, Naxos, Marquis Classics, Blue Griffin, Electra, and Phoenix labels. I have been working with Ho since performing her work “Four Seasons” with my violin duo partner in an anti-racism project, “Song of Praise”. Since then, I have showcased many of her works and I am now collaborating with her and Opera McGill to commission a new horror-anime opera, “Labyrinth of Tears”, funded by the Canada Council of Arts and the FRSQC.
Fazil Say stretches the traditional role of western cello playing throughout his Four Cities sonata. For example, he specifies certain times at which the cellist should play as low as possible on the C string with molto vibrato and bow. This unique and typically unused area of the cello creates a sound that closely imitates an Armenian Dudak, which is a double reed woodwind instrument which originated in ancient Armenia around 1200 B.C. Say also instructed the cellist to play with microtones, which is additionally uncommon in western classical music. Even the piano is altered, at times using Say’s “Black Earth” technique, which involves muting the strings with a hand. These developments intertwined with traditional western techniques beautifully meld sounds that are both of old and new world.
Using Say’s techniques as a model, Ho’s new composition will also explore new methods of using classical Western instruments to imitate sounds and timbres of traditional Chinese instruments. These explorations of extended techniques and unconventional possibilities of the cello and piano will allow both composers and performers to incorporate new folk music elements. In the broader scope, our on-the-ground immersion into location-specific music and the footage we collect will encourage future artists to imagine and create diversified expressions in their own composition and playing by demonstrating the value of multi-faceted exploration.
Our activities take into consideration the importance of sharing and making our learning process and discoveries accessible. Moreover, the documentary format will provide visual interest to help audiences engage with music that otherwise might appear complex and difficult to access. The commission by Alice Ho will be geared towards Chinese Canadian communities. We aim to help first and second generation immigrants strengthen their connection to their cultures and advocate the value of traditional lands and heritage. The aim of premiering this work alongside documentaries is both to introduce the broader North American audience to Turkish and Chinese music and also build a sense of community and cultural identification for Chinese people displaced from their homeland.