Bright Sheng's "Flute Moon"

Synopsis

Today we offer more proof (if you still need it) that the world of MUSIC, like the world in general, is getting smaller all the time.

On today’s date in 1999, the Houston Symphony, led by its German conductor Christoph Eschenbach, gave the first performance of this music, a work by the Chinese composer Bright Sheng.

“Flute Moon” is scored for solo piccolo and flute, with harp, piano, percussion and string orchestra. Its first section portrays a couple of giant unicorns in Chinese mythology; its second is based on a classic Chinese art song of the 13th century.

Bright Sheng was born in Shanghai in 1955. During Madame Mao’s “Cultural Revolution” of the late 1960s, he worked with a folk music and dance troupe near the Tibetan border. In 1978, after the Cultural Revolution had ended, he was able to study at the Shanghai Conservatory. In 1982 he came to New York for additional study, where his teachers included the American composer Leonard Bernstein.

In short order, Bright Sheng established himself as one of the most sought-after Chinese composers of our time. In addition to winning major composition awards and prizes, he’s held a number of major teaching posts across America.

“Why do I compose?” he asks. “Music is a way for me to express feelings as well as a way to express concrete thoughts. These are the two opposites of the spectrum. One is more spontaneous, while the other requires more logic and organization skills. One helps the other to achieve the maximum result.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Bright Sheng (b. 1955) Flute Moon Sharon Bezaly, flute; Singapore Symphony; Lan Shui, cond. BIS 1122

On This Day

Births

• 1813 - German composer Richard Wagner, in Leipzig;

Deaths

• 1949 - German composer Hans Pfitzner, age 80, in Salzburg;

Premieres

• 1813 - Rossini: "L'Italiana in Algeri" (The Italian Woman in Algiers), in Venice at the Teatro San Benedetto;

• 1836 - Mendelssohn: oratorio "Paulus" (St. Paul), at the Lower Rhine Music Festival in Düsseldorf, with the composer conducting;

• 1874 - Verdi: "Requiem Mass," at the Milan Cathedral, with the composer conducting;

• 1911 - Debussy: "Le Martyre de Saint-Sebastien," in Paris at the Théatre du Châtelet, André Caplet conducting;

• 1924 - Stravinsky: Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments, at the Paris Opéra at a concert conducted by Serge Koussevitzky, with the composer as the piano soloist;

• 1931 - William Grant Still: ballet "Sahdji," by the Eastman Ballet and Rochester Civic Orchestra, Howard Hanson conducting;

• 1950 - R. Strauss: "Four Last Songs" for soprano and orchestra, in London, with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Furtw ä ngle and Kristen Flagstad the vocalsoloist;

• 1982 - Alvin Singleton: "A Yellow Rose Petal" for orchestra, by the Houston Symphony, C. William Harwood conducting;

• 1990 - John Harbison: "Simple Daylight" (to a text by Michael Fried) at the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, by soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Alan Feinberg;

• 1999 - Bright Sheng: "Flute Moon," with soloist Aralee Dorough (flute/piccolo) and the Houston Symphony, Christoph Eschenbach conducting;

Others

• 1723 - J.S. Bach, the newly appointed cantor of Leipzig's St. Thomas Church, arrives in that city with his family;

• 1790 - Possible premiere of Mozart's String Quartets in D (K. 575) and Bb (K. 589) at Mozart's apartment in Vienna, very likely with the composer as violist;

• 1872 - On his 59th birthday, Richard Wagner lays the cornerstone of his Festival Theater in Bayreuth, Germany.