Lily Chen's music

Don Quixote Concerto (2021), Memories of a knight errant for a pianist, his assistant and a chamber orchestra

Performed by SWR Sinphonieorchester conducted by Pablo Rus Broseta
Piano: Christoph Grund - Assistant and percussion: Jochen Schorer
Recorded live at ECLAT Festival in Stuttgart on February 6th, 2021

Don Quixote Concerto (2021), Memories of a knight errant

作品建議使用耳機聆聽

《病²》靈感來自「慮病症」與「多夢症」兩種因神經失調而過量感知的病徵，「慮病症」為陳立立觀察家人的病徵，多夢症則是來自陳立立個人經驗。作品運用扭曲變形的電聲與多聲道環繞系統，揣摩患者的感知狀態，將「慮病」與「多夢」兩種情境交錯堆疊，希望藉由沈浸式音場，帶給聽眾「過大」與「過量」的強烈聽覺體驗，引領聽眾透過音樂與情緒間的連結與自身想像，進入患者的內心世界。

《病²》為此次特別因為 C-LAB 臺灣聲響實驗室立體聲場空間設計的作品，作曲家先在家中準備各式聲音素材，並於 C-LAB 臺灣聲響實驗室聲音工作站 3 (16 聲道)進行素材的拼接處理，再進入到 立體聲場 (49.4聲道) 進行立體空間混音與位移設置。

作曲家陳立立的音樂作品充滿豐富的音響色彩，透過對聲響的探索以及細微錯綜的語法，營造詩意與戲劇性，也展現她對文學、情感或當代社會的觀察。她於於國立台北藝術大學取得學士與碩士，美國加州大學柏克萊分校取得音樂作曲哲學博士，目前專任於國立臺北藝術大學音樂系。

Lily CHEN: Illness² (binaural version optimized for headphones)

Illness² is inspired by “hypochondriasis” and “excessive dreaming,” two syndromes caused by overperception due to neurological disorder. Through distorted electronics and the ambisonic system, this piece builds up the scenarios of “hypochondria” and “dreaminess,” hoping to offer the audience a more direct and intense listening experience in the immersive space and to lead them into the inner world of the sufferers by associating their own feelings with the music.

Lily CHEN, in her acoustic and electronic music, explores sonic and theatrical potentials and shapes evocative atmospheres that point towards subtle poetic commentary on her observations about literary, emotional, or social aspects of contemporary situations. Fang-Wei LUO 's works focus on exploring the balance between musical material, acoustic atmosphere, and musical texture. Depicting solitude and dreams, satirizing current events, and voicing for the underprivileged are the recurrent themes in his composition.

陳立立 - 《病²》 Lily CHEN: "Illness²"(binaural version optimized for headphones)

Five Gestures of Moonlight 〈月色的五種姿態〉: for pipa, prepared zheng, percussion, and electronics (2024)

《微光集》的靈感源自於「黑暗中隱隱發光的某個角落」，發掘樂器聲響之中微小卻富有光澤的音色，並使用雙簧管、小提琴、鋼琴三種樂器來展現不同聲音姿態融合而成的「微光」。我嘗試以「照片集」的概念來設計，在全曲多個短篇段落之中，演奏者可自行安排演奏順序，如同隨機拾起一張張照片。每個段落皆會凸顯某一個樂器或主題，但段落之間的聲音素材仍相互呼應， 將相似的聲音素材，在每個段落中以不同的面向與比例出現或變奏，使每個段落同時具有「相似性」與「獨立性」，希望達到多個段落能任意排列組織，卻保有其音樂張力與方向性，成為一種多變且可被另行組織的樂曲形式。

這是一首必須簡單，聽起來卻充滿細節的作品。在單純中表達變化，往往會需要更多心力與細節。
 - 本曲寫給「想要初次嘗試當代音樂的演奏者」

Album of Gleaming Reflections〈微光集〉: for oboe, violin, and piano (2024)

Performed by members of Ensemble Intercontemporain
Odile Auboin, viola
Emmanuelle Ophèle, bass flute
Eric-Maria Couturier, cello
Alain Billard, contrabass clarinet
Recorded live at Philharmonie Essen on October 25th, 2015

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We met as Sparks — Diverging Flints
Sent various — scattered ways —
We parted as the Central Flint
Were cloven with an Adze —
Subsisting on the Light We bore
Before We felt the Dark —
A Flint unto this Day — perhaps —
But for that single Spark.

Emily Dickinson

We Met As Sparks (2015) for bass flute, contrabass clarinet, viola and cello

Don Quixote Concerto (2021), Memories of the squire Sancho Panza, for a pianist, his assistant and a large orchestra


Performed by SWR Sinphonieorchester conducted by Brad Lubman
Piano: Christoph Grund - Assistant and percussion: Jochen Schorer
Recorded live at ECLAT Festival in Stuttgart on February 2nd, 2024

Don Quixote Concerto (2021), Memories of the squire Sancho Panza

The idea of the work derives from the reflections of moonlight. By applying electronic techniques, I devised several sound gestures to depict the changing luster of moon, particularly the process of fluctuation, fusion, floating, and fading. Moreover, the pitches of electronic sounds are organized with several clusters and spectrums. By highlighting specific partials of certain spectrum, the timbre of music keeps transforming, reflecting kaleidoscopic colors throughout the piece.

Reflections, the Kaleidoscopic Luster of Moonlight〈返響, 渲染之月色光澤〉: electroacoustic music (2024-25)

〈星辰的十一個迴響〉- 為預置二十一弦箏與互動式電聲 - 完成於2023年7月，但最初的創作構想起始於2019-20年，時值我留學初返台灣之際，當時初識之音樂學者暨古箏演奏家楊宜樺，在多次討論後決定嘗試寫作一首有創造性與研究性質的古箏作品。創作靈感源自於George Crumb室內樂作品 Eleven Echoes of the Autumn 開場的鋼琴內部泛音聲響，我在George Crumb逝世的2022年開始著手寫作這首作品，以作為對於這位作曲家的紀念。

本曲名為十一個星辰的共鳴（光暈的折射、回聲的共振）對應Crumb作品中對於秋天的十一個回聲。對我而言，Crumb作品中的回聲（echoes）塑造了他音樂的空間感，但我卻希望能夠以聲響（包含回聲）散盡且逐漸融入環境中的迴響（resonances）作為全曲的焦點。換言之，Crumb著重的是聲音的姿態（timbral gestures）在空間中的延展，而我希望以聲音散開後的織度（textures）與氛圍（atmosphere），作為本作品實質的主題。


Eleven Resonances of Galaxies〈星辰的十一個迴響〉: for prepared zheng and electronics (2022-23)

Video: http://vimeo.com/103693395

This piece is my first experimental work for electronic music. Chin is an ancient Chinese traditional 7-string zither, which is also a very personal instrument due to its soft volume and subtle timbral changes. Since it is not able to make sounds of great volume, amplification becomes an important element and thus creates a new kind of environment, an augmented chin. Such an augmented environment gives me inspiration for the piece. The necessary amplification and the electronic sounds both expand and even exaggerate the original instrumental sounds, which reminds me of the syndrome of the hypochondriasis, a tendency to fear or imagine that one has the illnesses that one does not actually have. The sufferers of this psychological illness normally augment their pain and exaggerate their physical conditions.

In the piece, I pretend to be a hypochondriasis sufferer who exaggerates and distorts the sense as if viewing things under the microscope or doing some ritual. By associating this emotional activity with music, I intend to find an appropriate role that the electronics plays, to build an intimate relationship between acoustics, amplification, and electronics, and to create different scenarios and multiple layers of musical environments.

I want to express my special thanks to Prof. Edmund Campion, who leads me to the world of electronic music and helps me create a good environment for the composition, and to Jeff Lubow, who helps me complete the concert patch and solve the technical issue of this piece. This piece is dedicated to my mother, who had a hard time taking care of my father, a hypochondriasis sufferer. It is also dedicated to some activists in my country Taiwan. To me, they are the hypochondriasis sufferers who have foreseen the crises hidden in the current situation and are fighting hard for the well-being of the country.

Hypochondriasis: for Chin Solo and Live Electronics (2014)

The title of the work, "Fusing, Refusing, Diffusing," reveals the central idea I intend to express in the music. I choose the three words with the same root "fuse" to represent three phases of the timbral orchestration I'd like to explore: to fuse varieties of timbre by finding their similarities, to refuse the unity of the sounds by emphasizing the uniqueness of every single instrument, and to diffuse the hybrid or independent timbre to expand the texture, the idea, and the tension.

The idea is related not only to my research interest in the manipulation of the timbre, but also to the current situation of my country. In March 2014, many students and citizens in Taiwan occupied the parliament to protest against an illegal under-the-table approval of the trade treaty with China and prevent the government from destroying the democracy and selling Taiwan to China, which intends to aggress upon Taiwan economically and politically. Therefore, I try to transform the political issues into music to express the intention to refuse the gradual fusion and the diffusion of the refusal as a tribute to the brave protesters in Taiwan.

Fusing, Refusing, Diffusing: for 9 Instruments (2015)

A Leaf Falls After is inspired by my recent memories of living in Europe. In the fall of 2015, I received the Ladd Prize funded by UC Berkeley and had the great opportunity to live in Paris for ten months. This was my first time in Paris as well as in Europe; I experienced intimate incidents of fragile beauty that touched me, but also shocking and terrifying ones during my residence there. I was impressed by the most clear and colorful fall I’d ever seen when autumn leaves fell to the ground, sizzling as if drizzling; I was terrified by the terrorist attack but also touched by the toughness of the Parisians that winter; on a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, I was fascinated to hear twelve bells constantly ringing, intertwining together as a huge chaotic but illusory whirl; I was stunned when visiting the installation ‘Fallen Leaves’ at the Jewish Museum in Berlin, watching thousands of open mouthed steel metal faces on the ground create, when walked on, harshly grating sounds like the victims’ screams.

Inspired by mixed emotions and diverse sounds, this piece traces the journey of a leaf: a solitary leaf falling with loneliness as described in an e. e. cumming’s poem; a light leaf falling with other leaves in autumn; a heavy metal leaf fallen on the ground. However, no matter what vibrations it has undergone during its falling and fallen time, the leaf will eventually be reincarnated into a rising butterfly, flapping its wings to cause a tornado in spring until the next falling comes. Based on such images, I create a constantly flowing process of different kinds of vibrations along with air sounds to represent falling leaves, fallen leaves, and flaps of rising butterflies’ wings. Besides this, metallic sounds/noises either with pure resonances or with intense pressure make up another important element, which is associated with my memories of the ringing bells and the metal “fallen leaves.”

A Leaf Falls After: for orchestra (2017)

Sundowning is a neurological phenomenon most commonly seen in sufferers of Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with sundowning usually begin to show behavioral problems after the sun sets. Sometimes they get agitated, restless, or even aggressive; sometimes they suffer from auditory hallucination, illusion, or even delusional disorder. Such syndrome visited my aged grandmother, which put her in a state of mood swings, mental confusion, and cognitive disorder. I found her physical functions obviously degenerating; she even lost her sense of hearing the week before her death.

This piece is divided into two uninterrupted sections: Agitation and Hallucination. I attempt to record the decaying and dreary living gestures of an aged person at the last stage of her life. Sundowning II is commissioned by Guerrilla Composers Guild and written for Meerenai Shim & Kris King of Keyed Kontraptions.

Sundowning II: for contrabass flute and contraforte (2018)

Shimmering in the Air is written for haegeum player Soo Yeon Lyuh and violist Ellen Ruth Rose. As the title indicates, this piece, by using plenty of air noise and harmonics from the instruments as well as the resonator and amplification from the electronics, aims at shaping a kind of atmosphere filled with light but bright timbres, metaphors of sparkling, shimmering fragments of lights scattering in the air, just like some fragments of memories flashing upon us yet quickly fading out and eventually forgotten in our life.

Shimmering in the Air: for haegeum, viola, and electronics (2018)

Lily Chen, born in Taiwan, is a composer exploring sonic and theatrical potentials in both acoustic and electronic music. Her music shapes evocative atmospheres that point towards subtle poetic commentary on her observations about literary, emotional, or social aspects of the contemporary situation. She received her Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California at Berkeley, where she studied with Ken Ueno, Edmund Campion, Franck Bedrossian, and Cindy Cox. She also received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Taipei National University of the Arts in Taiwan, under the instruction of Chung-Kun Hung. She is currently an Assistant Professor of composition at Taipei National University of the Arts. For more information, please visit – http://chenlily.com

Sundowning II: for contrabass flute and contraforte (2018)

Lily Chen

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