Chinese Fugue -- Landscapes - Soundscapes Competition Submission

This is a very short piece of music I composed, and it contains three parts, which are Chinese instruments. I do not have a specific photo this music is based on, but a close one will be

This one. It is 'A hundred birds saluting the phoenix', as the trills and tremolos can be interpreted as bird-songs.

The piece is in A Major, (A Dur), and approximately 1 minute 20 seconds long. (I think.) It contains 78 bars of music.

The instrumentation is Guzheng, Dizi and Erhu. (古筝，笛子，二胡。)

Please enjoy!

https://musescore.com/user/96214813/scores/34228625

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Chinese Fuge.pdf

Entry: Chnese Fuge

Average Score:5.2

Review:

Execution: Failed to meet the meet time requirement of the challenge. It would not pass the first round!

Form: this supposed to be fugue? All three voices start all the same time...

Score: the score was presented in clean manner. There were no errors that I saw.

Playability; I can not judge this area because of instrumentation.

Creativity: It was creative and original

Texture: There were unique themes from each instruments that interacted each other. This is not a fugue. But more imiition.

Taste: It is interesting to see a different take on what fugue is. But i was confused by it? I felt lost... :(

Themes: Each instrument had unique theme,

18 hours ago, Kvothe said:

Thank you!

Edited May 20May 20 by TristanTheTristan
Done

How did you get 5.2?

Just now, Kvothe said:

How did you get 5.2?

the mean of all the values.

Updated score.

Hi @TristanTheTristan !

There's nothing fugal here but it's definitely Chinese. Sadly there are no available soundtrack for dizi and erhu, as if they are used it will for sure enhance the unique color of the piece!

Just like @Kvothe said the piece is too short, as the compeition requires an entry to have a minimum time of 3 minutes, while here it's not even 2 minutes long. I like the heterophonic nature of the piece, and I think you can have added more details in it like dynamics and slur markings even it's for Chinese instruments. To me it sounds like a typical Chinese music with its pentatonic harmony, maybe you can add some contrasting episodes so that the music will exceed 3 minutes mark and make it more interesting. Thx for sharing!

Henry

Average Score: 7.6

Review:

Melodies/Themes/Motives - The piece is rich in melodies and interwoven motifs. 

Harmony/Chords/Textures - The polyphonic texture is consistent. I think it would have been better if the three instruments hadn’t been playing all the time.

Form/Development/Structure/Time - I think the structure is fine, and the length too; I prefer shorter pieces.

 Originality/Creativity - Of course, the choice of these chimes—which sound familiar yet are different—is a key point.

I also think that oriental sound has been recreated very well.

Score Presentation - The score is correct and easy to read.

Instrumentation/Orchestration/Playability In this respect, I think the dynamics and accents are missing, which makes it sound a bit flat. It would have been nice to have a brief explanation of what each instrument is.

Execution of Given Challenge - I think the author has succeeded in achieving his aim.

Taste - Although I think it would sound better with those instructions, I like this piece because of its exotic character.

Avg: 8.2

I think your scene is incredibly difficult to portray, but I hear the cultural influence of your piece. It brings me back to perhaps the 1500s. Definitely a solid melody, and fugue-like parts (perhaps more like a hybrid fugue - invention maybe?) Nevertheless, even though your harmony is simple, I do like that you changed keys halfway through.

First, some negative considerations: What I’m a bit sad or disappointed of is the fact that you – together with two other submissions so far – have not meet the requirements of the competition, since the piece is too short than the requested 3 minutes.

I don't think that was an unintentional mistake, but rather a sign of a certain laxity: “I can easily ignore these rules—it's just for fun, after all.” Yes, the competition is „just fun“ and the rules are not given from a higher authority. But if you are playing a game with some friends where you have negotiated some rules in advance, and somebody does not obey them, the „fun“ instantly decreases.

With this in mind, you bring me as reviewer into the uncomfortable situation to be forced to break the rules, too, whenever I give you a review taking all (other) criteria into consideration and do not skip your piece due to disqualification.

Now, coming to the music. Some other reviewers have noted that the piece „is not a fugue“. That is true – not only since it does not start with the subject in only one voice. But it doesn’t matter because the task of the competition was not to write fugues. Writing a „Chinese Fugue“ is „inherently impossible“ since, when using pentatonic harmonies you cannot apply the formal rules of a western fugue which are based on diatonic harmonies. So I think, the piece is an invention or a „fugato“ and the title could be changed to „Fuga“ Chinesen (with quotation marks around the word fugue) to avoid complaints by contrapuntal purists (like me 😀).

I have taken a quick look at the score while listening and discovered at least the following entries of a subject and countersubject:

• Subject: mm. 1-8 (G Dizi)

• Subject: mm. 22-29 (Erhu)

• Subject: mm. 63-70 (G Dizi)

• Countersubject: mm. 1-5a (Erhu)

• Countersubject: mm. 31-35a (Guzheng)

• Countersubject: mm. 63-67a (Erhu)

There are also some nice sequences (in mm. 47-52 and 53-63) which could be considered as fugal episodes and the last bars (from mm. 71-78) could be a coda. There are as well shorter motifs which are derived from the initial thematic material

Melodies Themes Motives:

There are distinctive themes in the different instruments which are organized in a counterpuntual technique.

Harmony Chords Textures:

Nice pentatonic harmonies and interesting textures.

Form Development Structure Time:

The development should have been continued in order to achieve the minimum required length for the piece.

Originality Creativity:

Well done. The piece is unique and distinctive between all submissions (so far) with its pentatonic harmonics.

Score Presentation:

The score is clean, however I would like to have some dynamic or articulation marks (so far they are applicable/possible for the respective instrument)

Instrumentation Orchestration Playability:

I’m not able to judge that since I’m not familiar with the instruments, but I would guess there are no problems.

Execution of Given Challenge:

The piece clearly depicted a – for me – exotic world, however it did not arise the imagination of a phoenix.

Taste:

I like the piece with its really Chinese mood.

Average: 7.125