Landscapes-Soundscape: Alishan (for Flute Quintet)

Dear all,

This is a short piece inspired by my trip last year with my girlfriend on a winter trip to Alishan at Taiwan, and we were visiting it in the afternoon.

The photo is taken at the entrance of the Alishan visitor's zone.

It is a place of high mountains with tall, spiritual trees, among which we travel with light railways and walked through the bridges. Being from a city with concretes, this jungle is particularly peaceful and you can always find the beauty of nature there.

I have always been eager to write a piece as a diary of my visits, and it is a completely good time (the competition) for me to write one. Hope you all like it!

HoYin

Alishan for Flute Quintet.pdf

Entry: Alishan

Average Score: 9.6

Review:

Score Presentation: There were no engraving errors with the given score.

Instrumentation, Playability: Strings players need time to change between pizz and arco. The double stops in b 58 is not playable! The quadable stop is better mark pizz. The arco 16th notes could be played better as pizz?

Execution: This piece exceeding expectations of challenge.

Taste: I appreciate the composer understanding 20th century harmonic language within this composition. It is refreshing to hear modern classical music like this! I would hear piece like this!

Creativity, Originality: Alishan was highly creative and original.

Harmony and texture: The high sense of chromaticism is what makes this piece truly interesting.

Strcuture: This is a tough one to nail down. I think the best way to describe to it is:ABA (I think).

Motives: There are well crafted motives and themes through out the piece.

9 hours ago, Kvothe said:

Instrumentation, Playability: Strings players need time to change between pizz and arco. The double stops in b 58 is not playable! The quadable stop is better mark pizz. The arco 16th notes could be played better as pizz?

Thank you for your comment, @Kvothe.

In actual practice, a string player will still hold the bow and use the index finger (for violin/viola) to perform pizzicato. That way, they have enough time to switch back to arco. quickly without disrupting the performance, at least from my experience as a violinist.

The quadruple stops are also taken care of when I write this piece and should not bring too much of difficulty playing. Most of them are designed and indicated to be played as broken chords for better playability and for intentionally lighter textures. Moreover, open strings are used to make the chord more resonant for better projection.

The choice of pizz and arco. depends on the texture - Do I want a richer sound to accompany the main melody? I often consider the sound quality before the playability issue. Nevertheless, the 16th notes are projected better in arco.

For the double stops in m.58, they are playable using both A and D strings, with the last note played using the 4th finger to press both strings.