Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra - Shanghai 2016
Liang Zhang - Conductor
Sun Yaoqi - Erhu

Photo credit: Bayu Anggoro

The concept of a vanishing point has informed the crafting of this work in several ways. On a surface level, the notion of separate entities gradually converging together is crucial to the structure as well as the motivic, harmonic and textural development of the piece. Jonathan Harvey amongst others has remarked upon the spectral predilection for harmony to be subsumed by timbre, and it is this merging of musical parameters that can be understood as the underlying trajectory of the composition. Moreover, this interpretation of a vanishing point as a synthesis between differing ideas also manifests itself in the aesthetic outlook of 'Vanishing Point'. Through the coupling of the Chinese erhu and folksong with a symphonic orchestra as a starting point, a sense of reconciliation between Eastern and Western cultures is attempted.

As a creative impetus, I was interested in the paradoxical implication of closure suggested by a vanishing point. Hence, although the vanishing point of a landscape is literally seen as the end point, the viewer also knows that the landscape continues infinitely further into an unknown realm. 'Vanishing Point', whilst inherently being a piece in its own right, thus hopes to direct the curiosity of the listener toward this unknown realm, and to consider the question: what is beyond the vanishing point?

2016/2017

Vanishing Point for Erhu and Symphony Orchestra (2016)

Paul Max Edlin's music is published by Composers Edition. 

Paul Max Edlin, 2016/2017 Composer in Residence for the London Chamber Orchestra, has a career that combines composing with higher education, artistic direction and performing.  

His works have been performed by many leading artists including Alison Balsom, Arditti Quartet, Britten Sinfonia, David Campbell, Cantus Ansambl, Dame Sarah Connolly, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Rolf Hind, Johannes Möller, London Chamber Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Olga Pasiecznik, Psappha, Silesian Quartet, Southbank Sinfonia, Gabriella Swallow, John Wallace and The Wallace Collection and Bede Williams. 

He studied with Edwin Roxburgh, Richard Blackford and Joseph Horowitz (Royal College of Music) and Michael Finnissy (University of Sussex). He has won many prizes including Premio Internazionale Ancona, Harriet Cohen Memorial Award and United Music Publishers Prize. His music explores symbolism and often derives its inspiration from extra musical material. From the mid 80’s to mid 90’s many works were inspired by the art and architecture of South-East Asia, especially Indochina. From 2000 onward symbolism of a wider range of sources guided his music, from the chiastic structures of J.S. Bach to the writings of Gabriel García Márquez and Federico García Lorca and visual work of Frida Kahlo.

Paul Max Edlin is former Director of Music at Queen Mary University of London. He was Artistic Director of Deal Music & Arts (formerly Deal Festival) from 2004 to 2021, Sounds New (2007 to 2013), Director of International Composer Pyramid (2008-2013) and was founding Chair of the Board of Trustees of Ora Singers. He is current Executive Chair of W.E. International Music Festival, which brings eastern and western cultures together.  From 2012 to 2013 he was President of the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM), the UK's leading association for professional musicians.

Winner of the UK Critics' Circle Young Artist Award 2021 for his "compelling and individual" works, Alex Ho is a British-Chinese composer whose music and stage works have been described as “menacing and poetic" (The Guardian), "important and impressive" (Opera Today), and a "fresh, different idea that captured the imagination" (Scottish New Music Awards 2021). Alex is resident composer at Glyndebourne Opera (2023-26) and was formerly Artist-in-Residence at Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier (2021-24) and Associate Composer at Oxford International Song Festival (2022-23). His music theatre piece, Untold, premiered to critical acclaim at Concertgebouw Brugge and O. Festival Rotterdam in Spring 2023 and won the FEDORA Opera Prize 2023 for a "bold and moving creation".

 

Alex has had pieces performed/commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, BBC Radio 3, Royal Philharmonic Society, Royal Opera House, Het Concertgebouw, National Opera Studio, Music Theatre Wales, London Sinfonietta, Riot Ensemble, VOCES8, and National Youth Choirs of Great Britain. His works have featured in venues across the UK, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Canada, USA and China, on platforms including SoundState Festival (Southbank Centre, London), Sound Unbound (Barbican Centre, London), Hearing China (Shanghai Symphony Hall, Shanghai), nonclassical (London), Cheltenham Music Festival, and BBC Late Junction. Alex is co-director of Tangram, a music collective currently Associate Artists at LSO St Luke's.​ Alex graduated from Oxford and Cambridge universities and completed a doctorate at the Royal College of Music with a full AHRC scholarship (LAHP studentship supported by the RCM).

Alex is represented by Intermusica: https://www.intermusica.co.uk/artist/Alex-Ho

‼️its feels good ⚡️to be lost in the⚡️
         ‼️under DIRECTION⚡️‼️
                            👇


⚡️childrens of the grave⚡️
⚡️its not A joke, not A dick⚡️
      ‼️ dont take it. so hard⚡️