Description
Perusal Score
Video
Shih-Hui Chen: Returnings
Duration
2009
Commissioner
Commissioned by Dinosaur Annex Ensemble
Instrumentation
flute, percussion, cello
Program Notes
One aspect of music that fascinates me is how tension and drama can be created by contrasting the effects of familiarity and dissimilarity found in my musical materials. Bridging this dichotomy between continuity and discontinuity parallels my attempt to integrate the two sound worlds of East and West. The title Returnings also refers to my personal story— my own returning to two places I have called home, Taipei and Boston.”
Returnings was commissioned and premiered by Dinosaur Annex in 2010. I have dedicated this piece to them with true thanks for their unrelenting vision of presenting new music to Boston audiences. Anything but extinct, the “Dinosaurs” are, I am happy to find, more culturally vibrant and alive than ever.
–Shih-Hui Chen