Name: Love Letters And Other Mysteries - 2. Dive Beneath The Surface, for Viola and Piano by Christine Elise Chen
Duration: 6 min 32 s
Description: performed by Jay Julio, viola, and Edward Forstman, piano

A virtuosic duet for flute and clarinet with a primitive, dance-like character. The full ranges of the instruments are called upon, and the performers must navigate passages of tightly-woven imitation, which give the music its playful and elusive atmosphere. 

Jubal is one of the three sons of Lamech named in the genealogy of Cain at the end of Genesis chapter four. His brother is Jabal, "the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock," and his half-brother Tubal-Cain is called, "the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron." Jubal himself is said to be "the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe." This is the first mention of music or musicians in the Bible. Given the work's primal air, and the fact that the content of the music is derived so immediately from the instruments themselves, it seemed fitting to title the piece in homage to their first maker. 

Jubal's Pipes (flute and clarinet duet)

Inspired by some of my favorite licks that Charles Mingus ever wrote, this solo baritone saxophone piece is meant to swing hard. 

Mingus wrote and performed some of the most influential jazz music in our history, and his colossal library of repertoire spans an enormous breadth and depth of emotions. The passion, the rage, the soul, the fiery energy. Mingus was a man possessed. This piece serves to be my own small reflection in tribute to the "Angry Man of Jazz."

Live world premiere performed by the composer herself, Shelley Washington, in November of 2016.

MO'INGUS

Red on Red

nakuniku (2017) for 16 voices

performed by Jay Julio, viola, and Edward Forstman, piano

Love Letters And Other Mysteries - 2. Dive Beneath The Surface, for Viola and Piano

Nothing Nowhere

Surface

"Future Caprices", performed live by the Friction Quartet.

Future Caprices

one of my early sound pieces, rempving all instruments from the song "Little Max" chaining together a string or micro drum solo's with 4 Charlie Parker notes altered tempo

Slow Birds

"Uchi-Soto" (which literally translates to "inside-outside") refers to the differentiation between 'in-groups' and 'out-groups'; a concept that permeates Japanese society and language. Varying levels of politeness and respect are embedded in the language, reflecting the complex and changing layers of personal relationships between 'uchi (内)': typically family members and close friends, and 'soto (外)': strangers, customers, and also foreigners (外人). In reflecting on my own relationship with this concept (particularly in my identity as both Japanese and 'foreigner'), I became interested in finding a musical language in the layers 'in-between'; the subtle gradations of a single instrument's physical 'uchi' and 'soto'.

– Salina Fisher (https://soundcloud.com/salinafisher, https://www.salinafisher.com/)

Thomas Feng, piano
Recorded May 2019
Manhattan School of Music

Salina Fisher – Uchi-Soto (内外)

Composer and writer who moved to Sydney for love and for money in 2021

Love Letters And Other Mysteries - 2. Dive Beneath The Surface, for Viola and Piano

Christine Elise Chen

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