An-lun Huang: "SHUIGUZI", From the Ancient Scores of Dunhuang

Op.64(2005)
"SHUIGUZI", From the Ancient Scores of Dunhuang,the #25.
Quintet Concerto for 5 Chinese Traditional Instruments and Orchestra,

A live recording of the world premiere by the Oriental Angels soloists and Beijing Symphony Orrchestra, conducted by Tan, Li-hua, at the zhong Shan Music Hall, Beijing, Dec.4, 2005.
Li Xiao-jie Banboo flute, Ma Xiang-hua erhu, Li Jia pipa, Wang Long Yangqin and Chang Jing GuZheng.
Canadian music in Chinese style and the tunes that 1,700 years old !

Ancient Scores from Dunhuang
for Chinese Traditional Instruments and Orchestra
An-lun Huang, Op.53(1997) and Op.64(2005)

Dunhuang is a small town in northwestern China. This city is more than one thousand seven-hundred years old, and it sat on the border of a large desert, right at the end of the Silk Road. In 1900, a collection of ancient scores were found in a cave in the Dunhuang region. As they are more than seventeen hundred years old, these musical scores are no doubt the oldest musical scores of human civilization. This collection consists of 25 pieces composed for the pipa, one of the oldest Chinese plucked instruments.

Specialists around the world have tried to decipher the musical notation system used in the scores. They discovered that the strange symbols in the scores are actually instructions for the fingering for the pipa through each piece. As the performer would follow these finger positions, corresponding pitches would sound. However, the real difficulty of the deciphering was finding the suitable dynamics, articulations, rhythm and tempo.
Although the true interpretation of the scores will always be discussed and argued by scholars, many musicians have performed the different versions. Huang An-lun's "Ancient Scores from Dunhuang", written for the Chinese Traditional Instruments and Orchestra, are the latest attempt to interpret the scores.

The book "The Translations of the Music and Scores in the Tang Dynasty", by Professor Ye Dong of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, is one of the most influential published studies in this field. In order to structure the new piece for the Chinese Traditional Instruments and the orchestra, Huang An-lun chose 5 Dunhuang ancient scores from this book. Since the scores only contained melodic notes, Huang had to use his imagination to create all the other elements of the music - the tempo, the articualtions, rhythmic patterns among many others. Through his music, Huang had musically interpreted the essence of poems from the Tang dynasty. He had also intricately woven elements of both Western and Eastern musical traditions into his scores.

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