First up, we have 秦兵马俑幻想曲 (Terracotta Warriors Fantasia). Composed in March 1984 by 彭修文, it depicts a soldier's life during the conquest of the Qin Dynasty emperor, Qin Shi Huang. With 3 movements, it brilliantly expresses the highs and lows of the soldier's morale and fighting will and the missing of their love ones. The 3 movements are
军正肃 封禅遨游几时休
This movement depicts the main conquest theme lead by Qin Shi Huang. The piece starts off soft yet significant footsteps (played by Chinese cymbals and Chinese Wind Pipe), depicting the soldier's march from afar. As the theme continues, the footsteps get louder and more significant. Chinese trumpets and pluck string instruments come in to play the main melody, signifying the conquest. A sudden change in emotion was made when the Erhus enter. Giving us a sneak peak of the soldier's actual feelings as the piece continues. The emotions of the soldiers are further expressed in later movements. The Chinese snare drum comes in a with a short passage, followed by a grand motif played by the winds, depicting the entry of royal maids for the emperor. After much exhaustion, the soldier's finally settled down in their camps. Mix emotions arise as they look up to the beautiful night sky, entering the next movement.
春闺梦 征人思妇相思苦
The night deepens, soldiers playing the patrol drum (played by wood blocks) can be heard everywhere. Out of nowhere, a sorrowful melody appears (played by 埙, clay flute). The melody etched deeply inside the soldier's heart as they sang along (played by the plucks strings section) while thinking about their wives and children. In summary, instruments took turns to play sorrowful melodies to depict the missing of love ones. Lastly, the interaction between 中胡 and 柳琴 expressed the complaints yet unable to do anything kind of feeling. Suddenly, the Chinese cymbal crashed into the minds of the soldiers. As if waking up from a dream, the soldiers stood up and get ready for the next battle.
大纛悬 关山万里共雪寒
The soldiers are on the road again. Motifs from the first movement are played with a slightly different feeling. The weather turned bad, snowing everywhere in the soldier's path. Played using Bb major, the melody from the first movement further showed the sadness and grievances from the soldiers. As if asking god: when will this war end? When can I be reunited with my family again? The piece finally ends with the screaming of grievances from the soldiers.
I personally love this piece. The musicality in the scores showed multiple thought through layers of emotions. Sad to say, not many orchestras in the world is able to depict such emotions entirely. Most broke the linkage from movement to movement which stops the development of emotions. With that i end today's Mellifluous Monday! and I hope everyone can enjoy this piece as much as i do.
Cheers!
Overall rating: 10/10
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