2008

for violin and piano

By:

• Gao Ping

Duration:

05' 30"

Availability

• This work has 3 scores and a recording

Programme Note

Questioning the mountain was written in June 2008, immediately after the devastating earthquake in my home region of Sichuan.

The piece is a meditation on the tragic event and a nostalgic offering to my motherland. Its slow and procession-like unfolding suggests some kind of ritual, at once sombre and graceful.

A fragment from the Sichuan folksong On the High Mountains becomes a recurring motif, like an unanswered question, which at the end transforms into a repeating bass line which gives the foundation to flourishing melisma in the high register on the piano.

Gao Ping

Commissioned:

Commissioned by Rieko Suzuki

Influences:

• Chinese
• Landscape - other
• Folk

Performance History

	16 Apr 2009	Performed by the Ligeti Trio – David Cox (horn), Kees Hilhorst (violin) and Tony Lin (piano) at the School of Music Auditorium, Nelson
		David Cox    Kees Hilhorst
	17 Apr 2009	Performed by the Ligeti Trio – David Cox (horn), Kees Hilhorst (violin) and Tony Lin (piano) at the Music Centre Chapel, Christchurch
		David Cox    Kees Hilhorst
	24 Sep 2009	Performed by Gao Ping (piano) and Suzuki Reiko (violin) at The Great Hall in Christchurch
	25 Sep 2009	Performed by Suzuki Reiko (violin) and Gao Ping (piano) at Adam Concert Room, Victoria University, in Wellington