A tone poem for orchestra
Commissioned in 1998 by the Bremerton Symphony (Washington State)
Duration: 11min.
NOTES
River Moon is a tone poem based on the 10th century
Chinese prose poem The Red Cliffs (No. 1) by Song dynasty poet Su Shi.
The poem describes the meditations of a group of poets as they drift on a
moonlit river between the Red Cliffs of the Yangzi River, famous as the site
of an ancient battle. The beauty of the night gives way to thoughts of heroic
deeds, then to the transience of all human life, and finally to the acceptance
of the endless change of all things. In River Moon, the opening evokes the
quiet river with flickers of moonlight, the tall cliffs, and the wonder at the
vastness of the sky. Then sounds of ancient battles emerge and climax in a
flurry of bells, only to subside again to the quiet river, the imposing cliffs
and the timeless sky full of stars.
Like other of the composer's
"Chinese" works, River Moon is based on a "pentatonic scale plus 1" hexachord,
with the other six notes of the 12 tone scale grouped into two other pitch
collections. All motives are derived from these three collections.
Orchestration
2 Flutes (2nd doubling piccolo)
2 Oboes
2 Clarinets in Bb
2 Bassoons
2 Horns in F
2 Trumpets in C
2 Trombones
1 Tuba
Harp
Percussion 1:
orchestral bells, 3 toms (h, m, l), 2 bongos (h, l), suspended cymbals (h, l), 1
temple block (medium-high)
Percussion 2:
chimes, bass drum, (shared: 3 toms, 2 suspended cymbals)
Percussion 3:
tamtam, 2 Chinese opera gongs (h,l),* (shared: 2 suspended cymbals, bass drum)
*The opera gongs are a pair consisting of one high gong (with a rising pitch)
and one low gong (with a falling pitch.)
strings
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