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CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
PRESENTS
Wu Man
The Journey of Chinese Pipa:
Ancient Ties for Modern Sound
Thursday, March 28, 2013 . 8PM
Joseph & Alma Gildenhorn Recital Hall
CLARICE SMITH PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 5

PROGRAM
Wu Man
The Journey of Chinese Pipa: Ancient Ties for Modern Sound
Xi Yang Xiao Gu (Flute and Drum Music at Sunset)
Classical (Civil)
The Sound of Bells and Drums from a Distant Temple along the River
Moon on the Eastern Mountain
Breeze over the Quiet Water
Shadows of Flowers
Clouds and Water Far Away Become as One
A Fishman’s Song in the Evening
Waves Lapping at the Shore
The Returning Boat
Shi Mian Mai Fu (Ambush Laid on Ten Sides)
Classical (Martial)
Xu Lai (Meditation)
Liu Tianhua
Kazakh küi
Traditional
arr. Wu Man
Dance of the Yi People
Wang Huiran (b.1935)
San Liu (Three Six)
Traditional
Night Thoughts
Wu Man
Leaves Flying in Autumn
Wu Man
Approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
This performance is included in Diversity Through Music, an event series sponsored by the
UMD Office of Diversity Education and Compliance and the Nyumburu Cultural Center through
a grant from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion with the cooperation of the Clarice Smith Center.
To view a full schedule of events, visit the Nyumburu Cultural Center’s website.
Wu Man most recently appeared at the Center in A Chinese Home with
Kronos Quartet (2009-2010).
claricesmithcenter.umd.edu | 301.405.ARTS (2787)
PROGRAM NOTES
Musical America’s 2013 Instrumentalist of the Year and GRAMMY Award-nominated
artist Wu Man is recognized as both a virtuoso and ambassador of the pipa, or Chinese
lute, which has a history of more than two thousand years. Her creativity and curiosity has
led to collaborations with some of the world’s leading contemporary composers such as
Tan Dun, Philip Glass, the late Lou Harrison, Terry Riley, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi and
many others. She also frequently performs as a member of the Silk Road Ensemble with
cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and with the Kronos Quartet.
Wu Man has spent the majority of her career tracing the history of her instrument
throughout her native China and into Central Asia. Gramophone magazine stated, “A onewoman
force of nature, she is a key figure not only for bringing Chinese traditional music
to new audiences, but in becoming a muse for all manner of contemporary composers.”
While documenting hundreds of journeys and adventures to little-known regions of
Asia, Wu Man unearthed ancient musical traditions that have influenced both the pipa’s
repertoire and Wu Man’s own technique. In this program including selections from her
recordings Wu Man and Friends, Immeasurable Light and her most recent album
Borderlands, Wu Man takes the audience on an illuminating and deeply personal journey
of how the pipa’s story has shaped her own.
Xi Yang Xiao Gu (Flute and Drum Music at Sunset)
Classical (Civil)
A hand-written score for this pipa piece first appeared in 1875 as a piece with seven
untitled sections. It was later discovered with subtitles among Chen Zijing’s hand-written
collection of pipa music in 1898. The present score, having eight sections with subtitles, is
taken from Li Fangyuan’s New Collections, 1895. This composition is of the “civil” style
of pipa music.
Shi Mian Mai Fu (Ambush Laid on Ten Sides)
Classical (Martial)
Perhaps the best known of all traditional pipa works, this is a grand opus of the “martial”
school of pipa music. A hand-written score for pipa solo first appeared in 1875. Structured
in traditional story-telling form, “Shi Mian Mai Fu” portrays the epic battle between the
kingdoms of Han (Liu Bang) and the warlord of Chu (Xiang Yu) in 202 BC. The Han
army ambushed the Chu army on ten sides and finally defeated the powerful Chu (Xiang
Yu committed suicide), leading to the establishment of the Han Dynasty. The music
describes how the armies set up camp, effected the ambush and fought fiercely. In it can
be heard the war drums, booming guns, soldiers and horses, and the shouting of soldiers
at the massacre. The victors return to camp in triumph at the end of a stirring battle.
Variations on a theme make use of tonal colors and timbres created by various fingering
techniques to evoke a range of moods, heroism, stoicism, despair and tragedy.
Xu Lai (Meditation) (1929)
Liu Tianhua
Liu Tianhua was a 20th-century intellectual, composer and musician who tried to
formalize and modernize the study and performance of traditional Chinese music,
sometimes with ideas borrowed from the West. In this work, the music conjures up the
image of a person seated by a window, in the emptiness and stillness of the night,
lost in meditation.
WU MAN The Journey of Chinese Pipa: Ancient Ties for Modern Sound 7

PROGRAM NOTES
Kazakh küi
Traditional, arr. Wu Man
Wu Man made this arrangement for pipa of a Kazakh folk tune that she heard performed
on the dombÿra, the two-stringed plucked lute that is widely regarded as a cultural symbol
of Kazakhs. Kazakhstan shares a long border with western China, and nomadic Kazakhs
have long represented an ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous
Region. In Xinjiang, Kazakhs speak their own language and maintain their own musical
traditions. The pipa is believed to have entered China long ago through contact between
Chinese civilization and the peoples whom ancient Chinese sources described as “northern
barbarians,” which is to say, nomads. By performing this virtuosic nomadic melody on the
pipa, Wu Man brings her instrument full circle, back to its Central Asian origins.
Dance of the Yi People (1960)
Wang Huiran (b.1935)
This is one of the signature pieces in the repertoire of Wu Man. Wang arranged this
wonderful piece in 1960 based on folk tunes of the Yi minority people, who live in
southwestern China. However, the piece did not gain popularity during the Cultural
Revolution (1966 to 1976) because the music evokes intoxicating nights on a
mountainside and the joyous gathering of young people with lively dancing, and has
nothing to do with the “Red Revolution,” which was necessary to be approved by censors
at the time. Wu Man selected this piece for her audition to enter the Conservatory in
Beijing in 1978 and won first place. Her performance of the piece was recorded and
broadcast throughout the nation. Since then, it has become one of the most popular pieces
in the pipa repertoire. This is the first pipa composition to incorporate the Western A-B-A
structure, adopt Western chords and guitar techniques, and display virtuoso pipa
techniques such as tremolos, strumming, sliding notes and harmonics.
San Liu (Three Six)
Traditional
This is a popular folk tune from the Shanghai area, often played with a small ensemble
at a tea house.
Night Thoughts (2005)
Wu Man
The piece was inspired by a 9th-century Buddhist pipa tune and represented for Wu Man
a chance to rediscover the pipa’s native, regional language. The piece is particularly drawn
to its ancient-tune scale, which is very different from today’s mostly pentatonic pipa music,
and to the peaceful, meditative sound of the pipa in the low register.
Leaves Flying in Autumn (2000)
Wu Man
Wu Man composed this improvisational collage a few years ago with inspiration from
the classical martial style of pipa works and a nod to rock ’n’ roll.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Recognized as the world’s premier pipa virtuoso and leading ambassador of Chinese
music, GRAMMY Award-nominated musician Wu Man has carved out a career as
a composer, soloist and educator giving her lute-like instrument — which has a history
of more than 2,000 years in China — a new role in both traditional and contemporary
music. Through numerous trips to her native China, Wu Man has premiered hundreds
of new works for the pipa, while spearheading multimedia projects to both preserve and
create awareness of China’s ancient musical traditions. Collaborations across artistic
disciplines have allowed Wu Man to reach wider audiences as she works to break through
cultural and musical borders. On December 6, 2012 Wu Man was named Musical
America’s 2013 Instrumentalist of the Year, the first traditional musician ever to receive
this prestigious award.
During the 2012-13 season Wu Man will tour for solo recitals across the United
States and will continue to tour with the Silk Road Ensemble. She will premiere her new
composition “Blue and Green” during a nine-city United States tour with New York
City’s The Knights. Wu Man will also perform at the 2013 Auckland Arts Festival in
New Zealand both in a solo recital and together with the Kronos Quartet in a performance
of A Chinese Home, a work commissioned by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Wu Man’s latest album Borderlands was released by Smithsonian Folkways in May 2012,
and her documentary Discovering a Musical Heartland: Wu Man’s Return to China was
released in September of the same year.
claricesmithcenter.umd.edu | 301.405.ARTS (2787) WU MAN The Journey of Chinese Pipa: Ancient Ties for Modern Sound 9