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The GalaMusica‧School Chamber Compositions 2017 aims to promote music creating in schools and provide students with an opportunity to perform original music and learn from each other. The above activity is presented by the Arts Education Section of the Education Bureau, co-organised by the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild and sponsored by the Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
Level
Secondary
Award
Outstanding Composition Award, Best Creative Ideas Award and Best Chinese Instrumental Writing Award
Awarded work
I Imagined Myself Wandering Around in a Pine Forest
Theme of the Portfolio
Brief of Work
This piece is written for piano, violin, bass clarinet, percussion, erhu and xiao.
It is composed in seven sections, i.e. “The Mist”, “The Pine Trees”, “Dance of the Free Spirits”, “Heartbeats and Vibrations”, “A Struggle”, “A Shivering Light”, and “In Tranquility”. The tone row theme is a chromatic melody that can be divided into three fragments. The first fragment consists of three consecutive chromatic ascending notes. The second fragment consists of four ascending notes of a French sixth. The last fragment consists of two consecutive whole-tone descending notes, plus a dropping tritone. These fragments are widely used in a few variations for development.
The piece explores the possibilities of modal harmony by employing Messiaen’s “Mode of Limited Transposition”. The seven modes are being used in the seven sections respectively by employing different textures. Although the tonal centre is absent, the “tonic-dominant” like harmonic progression represents the composer’s intention of manifesting his imaginative world into the reality.
Work
Level
Secondary
Award
Outstanding Composition Award and Best Chinese Instrumental Writing Award
Awarded work
The Lost Horse
Theme of the Portfolio
Brief of Work
This piece is written for dizi, bass clarinet, erhu, violin and percussion.
The idea of The Lost Horse was originated from a famous Chinese folk tale, named Sai Weng Shi Ma (塞翁失馬), which was about an old man who lost his horse, but eventually, the loss was a blessing in disguise.
This piece is a fanciful description of the lost horse’s journey that an old man travelled around the globe. The music begins with a quiet and dark opening. It then appears to be lively with a fast fugal dance that represents the escape of the horse. The music later turns into a quiet mood which suggests the horse felt homesick and wanted to go home with his friends whom they met in the journey. At the end, the music turns into an exciting and joyful passage that signifies the horse returned to the home of the old man.
Work
Level
Secondary
Award
Outstanding Composition Award and Best Creative Ideas Award
Awarded work
The Fruit Planet
Theme of the Portfolio
Brief of Work
This piece is written for dizi, violin, clarinet and piano.
It is inspired by a story written by the composer himself. On a planet far, far away, there lived many intelligent forms of life, they looked like fruits: grape, apple, orange and watermelon. The race of watermelon was the most powerful one amongst them. One day, the prince of watermelon heard that his people were attacked and caught by the people from another planet and thus the war began. Finally, they won the war and returned to their homeland.
Work
Level
Secondary
Award
Outstanding Composition Award
Awarded work
The Revelation
Theme of the Portfolio
Brief of Work
This piece is written for violin, erhu, dizi, piano and percussion.
It is based on the Book of Revelation in the Bible, which focuses on describing the scene in the final years before Jesus’ return. It conveys the message that the evil will be destroyed eventually at the right time. The music is expected to bring comfort and encouragement to the audience.
The first section features additive rhythm and drastic dynamics to create tension. Marching rhythms are then introduced to portray a “prelude” to the war in the future. To symbolise the fierce of the war between the good and the evil, polyphonic texture is being used. Different instruments overlap to create dissonant chords which intensifies the tension of the scene. The last section signifies a brand new world, depicting the heaven is coming down to the earth. This is a time of peace that there shall be no more tears, sadness and war. People live in harmony with love and care.
Work
Level
Secondary
Award
Outstanding Composition Award
Awarded work
Entering the Deep Web
Theme of the Portfolio
Brief of Work
This piece is written for erhu, violin, bass clarinet and piano.
It is about how the composer entered the dark deep web and was being hacked before the rescue. The music is divided into four sections. The first section describes the composer entering into the deep web. The pedal on C represents the nervousness of the composer. The second section portrays the composer’s computer was hacked and obscene information such as drug trafficking and animal pornography appeared. A series of glissandos has been used to emphasise the scariness. The use of high register in the third section represents the joy of the composer, who was able to fix the computer by using his accomplished technical skills. The last section expresses a sense of happiness and relief when the computer resumed to its normal state.
Work
Last revision date : 21 September 2023
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