Fantasia on the Theme of Plum Blossoms (for string orchestra)

18 min 30 sec

I. Fantasia

II. Ten Thousand Blooms

III. Plum Blossoms

The musical material of this piece is loosely derived from a popular Nankuan melody, Plum Blossoms. Nankuan, a traditional style of southern Chinese/Taiwanese music, dates back to Han and Tang Dynasty. This melody serves as a basis for all three movements. In the fantasia like first movement, the Nankuan melody is first subtly introduced in a fragmented and motivic way. By the end of movement, a longer continuous melody appears. The second scherzo- like movement takes the faster and active passages from the first movement as a basis for playful and energetic music. The rich and elegant Nankuan melody is most apparent in the lyrical, contrapuntal final movement. The original version of this piece was written for string quartet. It was adapted for orchestra at the request of Wu, Ting- Yuh, principal violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan, and was premiered by the group in June, 2012.