The Alchemist - Jia Jia Qiao.pdf - Edition Svitzer
The Alchemist - Jia Jia Qiao.pdf - Edition Svitzer
The Alchemist - Jia Jia Qiao.pdf - Edition Svitzer
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<strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Qiao</strong><br />
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<strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Qiao</strong>
Amazonka / Yevhen Stankovych 8:39<br />
(2008)<br />
Amazonka is the Ukrainian word for Amazon - the Women Warriors. According to myth, the Amazons were<br />
an all-female society of fierce warriors who supposedly lived in the area north of the Black Sea. <strong>The</strong> Amazon<br />
society was described as stringently matriarchal. Males were of no use other than for mating purposes and<br />
as slaves, doing work that was traditionally performed by women. <strong>The</strong> limbs of the men were amputated<br />
so that they could not rebel and escape. It has been Yevhens intention to translate this story into music.<br />
Arena - Solo Version / Tobias Broström 10:49<br />
(2004)<br />
This solo percussion piece is extracted from Tobias Broström’s Arena - Percussion Concerto No. 1, which<br />
was written for the Swedish percussionist Johan Bridger. <strong>The</strong> piece does not include the complete solo<br />
percussion part and has, in some aspects, been rewritten to work as a solo. <strong>The</strong> name Arena derives from<br />
the fact that during a performance of the concerto version, the soloist walks between percussion set-ups<br />
located at various positions on stage.<br />
Mirrors of Emptiness / Grigory Smirnov 14:50<br />
(2008)<br />
Digital delay (echo) produces reflections of sound like a mirror produces reflections of light. Sound of<br />
marimba reminded me of something empty: marimba actually uses a physical emptiness for the acoustic<br />
resonance. I thought about how emptiness can produce some illusion of ‘fullness’ just through numerous<br />
reflections of itself. In the same way some of our ‘empty’ thoughts growing by external reflections and<br />
repetitions may produce an ‘empty’ reality.<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Alchemist</strong>’s Wisdom / Rafael Reina 10:52<br />
(2008)<br />
I found clear parallels between the new angle to the myth of Alchemy explored by C. G. Jung and the piece<br />
I was writing. My research in Karnatic (South Indian classical) music was the starting point for the piece, in<br />
three different aspects: Use of many rhythmical techniques, use of a complex raga that enabled me to<br />
construct rich chordal progressions, and structures and proportionality concepts derived from Vedic<br />
geometry. I tried also to combine rhythmical passages with more color-oriented parts to re-create the<br />
mystery that the world of the <strong>Alchemist</strong> provoke in me.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Crystal 5:21<br />
Swedish folksong (unknown)<br />
<strong>The</strong> Crystal is one of the most beautiful Medieval love songs, and it originally comes from Dalarna, Sweden.<br />
<strong>The</strong> composer and lyricist are unknown. Still today the folk music is an art form which is very much alive,<br />
practiced by old and young alike all over Dalarna. <strong>The</strong> tradition is passed on from musician to musician,<br />
from one generation to the next, affecting and capturing the attention of the listener. In this version the<br />
Crystal has been arranged by the recognized Danish composer/vibraphonist Max Seide Leth.<br />
Original Lyrics<br />
(<strong>The</strong> Crystal)<br />
Though crystal shines rarely,<br />
like sunlight so clearly,<br />
like glittering stars in the sky,<br />
I know of a maiden whose grace shines more fairly,<br />
a maid in the village nearby.<br />
To you, my love, my heart’s sweet flower,<br />
Oh would that I were with you at this hour.<br />
Oh that I might your true love be<br />
and your troth were plighted to me,<br />
for roses are comely on fine broidery.<br />
And though I should travel to earth’s farthest countries,<br />
my heart would still cry out to you.<br />
And though I should travel to earth’s farthest countries,<br />
And though I should travel to earth’s farthest countries,<br />
to you, my love, my heart’s sweet flower.
Composers<br />
Yevhen Stankovych (1942)<br />
Was born in Svaliava, Transcarpathian Region in Ukraine. Yevhen Stankovych is one of the central figures of<br />
contemporary Ukrainian music. A prolific composer, he has written a large number of symphonies, operas,<br />
ballets, as well as film music, vocal and instrumental chamber genres. Today Yevhen Stankovych is the chair<br />
of the Faculty of Composition at the National Academy of Music in Kiev and the Chairman of the Composers’<br />
Union of Ukraine.<br />
Tobias Broström (1978)<br />
Was born in Helsingborg, Sweden. Following percussion studies he embarked on the pursuit of a Master’s<br />
degree in composition, studying with Rolf Martinsson and Luca Francesconi. Since autumn 2006, Tobias<br />
has been Composer-in-Residence with the Gävle Symphony Orchestra. Numerous soloists, ensembles and<br />
orchestras have performed his works throughout Europe, the USA and Asia.<br />
Grigory Smirnov (1982)<br />
Grigory Smirnov was born in 1982 in Novosibirsk, in the Siberian part of Russia. He studied piano at the<br />
Novosibirsk Music College (1996-2000) and composition at the Novosibirsk State Conservatoire (2000-2006),<br />
where his teacher was Yuri Yukechev. His oeuvre includes chamber, orchestral, choral and electronic works.<br />
Grigory Smirnov is also a piano performer working mostly in the field of improvised music.<br />
Rafael Reina (1961)<br />
Born in Equatorial Guinea, moved to Madrid at the age of seven. Graduated ‘Summa cum Laude’ in composition<br />
from Berklee College of Music in 1988. From 1993, when he moved to Amsterdam, Reina spent long<br />
periods in South India studying theory of Karnatic music with Jahnavi Jayaprakash. This led to the program<br />
‘Contemporary Music Through Non-Western Techniques’ at the Conservatory of Amsterdam (http://web.<br />
mac.com/cmtnwt). His extensive oeuvre of ensemble pieces and operas have been performed all over<br />
Europe, US, and Asia. As of 2003 he also has Dutch nationality.<br />
Max Seide Leth (1921)<br />
Was born into a musical family. In 1938, Max entered <strong>The</strong> Royal Danish Academy of music as a pianist and<br />
graduated with Soloist’s Diploma. Max Seide Leth’s life was changed forever one evening at a concert where<br />
the venue had no piano for him to play. <strong>The</strong>y offered him an old vibraphone instead. Max was not comfortable<br />
with this, but after some deliberation he decided to perform the concert on the vibraphone - with<br />
success!
<strong>Edition</strong> <strong>Svitzer</strong><br />
Was founded in 2007 and<br />
is an innovative music<br />
publisher, booking agency,<br />
and CD Company that is<br />
located in Copenhagen,<br />
Denmark.<br />
We live for the contemporary<br />
modern music,<br />
in all sorts of aesthetics<br />
and styles, and to publish<br />
the sheet music in a first<br />
class layout. Music is a<br />
universal language, and at<br />
<strong>Edition</strong> <strong>Svitzer</strong>, we like to<br />
give it the respect that we<br />
feel it deserves.<br />
All sheet music is available<br />
from:<br />
www.editionsvitzer.com<br />
<strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Qiao</strong><br />
When she was eleven years old <strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Jia</strong> passed the audition to be a percussion student at <strong>The</strong> Central<br />
Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Years later she graduated and got the job as classical Chinese percussion<br />
teacher at the same institution, which she still holds today. She has devoted herself to the performance of<br />
contemporary music written for her by Asian and western composers. Her knowledge of both traditions<br />
and her enthusiasm for new challenges enables her to perform different aesthetics of today’s music with<br />
formidable ease, accuracy and passion.<br />
She is considered one of the best Asian percussionists of contemporary music. In September 2008, <strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Jia</strong><br />
<strong>Qiao</strong> realized a long tour in Scandinavia, closing it with a concert at the New Opera House in Copenhagen.<br />
In this tour she world-premiered three pieces that the audience greatly acclaimed and led to a huge success<br />
of this tour. Together with <strong>Edition</strong> <strong>Svitzer</strong> <strong>Jia</strong> <strong>Jia</strong> decided to record the complete concert program, which gave<br />
birth to her debut album - <strong>The</strong> <strong>Alchemist</strong>.<br />
Wang Yunyue (piano)<br />
Was born in Beijing. At the age of twelve she was enrolled in the Central Conservatory of Music to study<br />
piano under the well-known piano teachers Prof. Zhou Guangren and Prof. Zhong Hui. Nowadays she is<br />
teaching at this conservatory. As a performance teacher, she has been being awarded with the ‘Students<br />
excellent performance’, and she’s recorded several CDs.
Credits<br />
Sound Engineer & Producer: Tobias Broström<br />
Studio: FM-Produktion<br />
Recorded in Copenhagen 17-19 September 2008<br />
Liner notes: Johan <strong>Svitzer</strong> & Vanessa Goad<br />
Photo, Makeup & Poetry: Josefine Jönsson<br />
Cover: Kristopher Tophøj Rasmussen &<br />
Thomas Hoffmann Duvander<br />
www.editionsvitzer.com
1 Amazonka<br />
Yevhen Stankovych<br />
2 Arena - Solo Version<br />
Tobias Broström<br />
3 Mirrors of Emptiness<br />
Grigory Smirnov<br />
4 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Alchemist</strong>’s Wisdom<br />
Rafael Reina<br />
5 <strong>The</strong> Crystal<br />
Swedish folksong / arr. Max Seide Leth