Work
Questioning the Mountains
for violin and piano
Films, Audio & Samples
Buy or Borrow
Borrow/Hire:
To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.
About
Questioning the Mountains 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 note
Commissioned by Rieko Suzuki
Performance history
16 Apr 2009: The Ligeti Trio: Nelson
17 Apr 2009: The Ligeti Trio 1
24 Sep 2009: Christopher's Classics 6
25 Sep 2009: Suzuki and Gao