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SKU: PR.312417450
Composed by Chen Yi. Premiered by the Ithaca College Choir on November 15, 1997 under the direction of Prof. Lawrence Doebler. Choral. Performance Score. With Standard notation. Composed 1997. 12 pages. Duration 5 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #312-41745. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.312417450).ISBN 9781491129258. UPC: 680160050994. 6.875 x 10.5 inches. Key: E major.
Commissioned by the Ithaca College School of Music, Spring Dreams was premiered by the Ithaca College Choir on November 15, 1997, under the direction of Prof. Lawrence Doebler. The music is a setting of the poem Spring Dreams by Meng Hao-ran (689-740, Tang Dynasty), sung in Chinese. In the beginning of the piece, several groups of ostinati are brought in gradually in various tempos, imitating the vivid pulse of birds singing everywhere, accompanying a fresh melody in the Beijing Opera speech-singing style, sung here by the sopranos. This music brings us the excitement and happiness of being in spring. There is a turning point in the middle of the poem, when the poet clearly wakes up from his sweet dream by hearing a bird singing, and he realizes that many flowers must have been ruined by a whole night of wind an showers. He sympathizes with the fallen petals, as he treasures the beautiful springtime. The music is brought to a climax by expressively repeating the words from the last line of the poem: Know you how many petals falling? Singing the melody in unison towards the end, we are deeply immersed in wordless sorrow, while the bird singing sounds like crying in the air. --Chen Yi Translation of the poem: Spring dreams not conscious of dawning, Not awoken till I hear birds singing; O night long, wind and showers -- Know you how many petals falling? Chen has the ability to create a minor sensation with the simplest of means. --Paul Horsley, The Kansas City Star, 10/15/2001 But her blockbuster on this occasion was Spring Dreams, in which the voices speak, whisper and chirp, imitating birds and creating a counterpoint of innovative and haunting sounds. The music is so immediately alluring that it grips the ears and never lets go. Chanticleer sang Chen Yi as if her sonic language were its mother tongue. --Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), 10/10/05.