Composer: Matthew Van Driel
Performers: Dim Sum Ensemble
Conductor: Matthew Van Driel
Event: Xpressions
Date: Oct. 27, 2013
Venue: Array Space, Toronto, Canada

Ripples begins quietly and meditatively, drawing the listener in to the deliberate movements of each instrument. As the piece develops, the instruments begin to move more, and create ripples of sound that interact with and complement one another. A quick, joyous section in the middle is like a burst of sunlight amongst the calmness of the surrounding sections, and fades away just as quickly as it had begun. In the second half of the piece the consistent movement in the lower register of the yangqin reminds one of rain steadily falling onto a surface of water, creating ripples. The piece ends quietly, just as it had begun, and fades into silence.

Matthew Van Driel: Ripples 波紋

To stimulate interest in erhu among young composers in Canada, Dim Sum Ensemble is inviting youths to compose a short solo work for erhu. No previous composition experience is required. Over several months, each selected work will be played by Dim Sum Ensemble and video recorded. Feedback will be provided in the form of an individual, written assessment.

Through the composition process, the young composers will benefit by introspection, challenging themselves, developing confidence in self-expression, and valuing the creative works of others. The written feedback by the performers will further facilitate the learning process.

Performer: Amely Zhou

Kenny Kwan: Tangy

Soothe By C. Theodore Howe

Lucas Oickle: Asterism V

Maxime Daigneault: A Brief Thought

Waves is a continuation of the piece, Ripples, debuted by the Dim Sum Ensemble in 2013 at their inaugural concert. Waves has a deeper, darker, and more contemplative sound, building on what was already established in Ripples, and developing it further. New melodic material is introduced, while there are brief hints of previous melodies from Ripples. As waves are bigger than ripples, so too is this piece – bigger, and more bombastic than the previous one. At the end, the repeating arpeggiated motif in the zheng and cello, and the short melody that accompanies it hints at things to come in the third piece of this series.


Matthew Van Driel: Waves 波浪

The composition itself is divided into 6 movements. One movement is repeated with variations. Each movement represents a new reincarnation.

Movement 1 is considered the introduction of the piece. It introduces a theme that is played throughout the entire piece. This ultimately gives each movement a sense of continuity. There are also a few minor themes weaved between the movements. Each movement is separated by a bar line and a rehearsal mark.

Movement 2 represents the beginning of the “journey”. The reincarnation can be any sort of traveller, or perhaps an animal, migrating to new areas. What is important is that this movement is a transition of what is to come.

Movement 3 represents the reincarnation of a farmer. This is shown in the music by the many ostinato figures that keep piling up. This is supposed to represent the grueling, often repetitive, work a farmer has to do daily.

In movement 4, the music immediately changes pace into a fast and heroic theme. This movement represents the reincarnation of a warrior. A particular technique is played by the erhu, which gives off the sound of a horse neighing. This technique allows the listener to visualize the scene more clearly.

Movement 5 switches keys and represents the reincarnation of a butterfly. This movement is very expressive and is the only movement that is played fully in a major key.

The piece ends the way it began to symbolize a full cycle. This can be interpreted in many ways.

Marko Koumoulas : Reincarnation Suite

"The Heart Asks Pleasure First" was composed by Michael Nyman for the film "The Piano." As the most famous piece from that score, it has been arranged in many different ways and styles. Really a combination of a few pieces from the score, this arrangement makes use of the yangqin’s ability to play quickly as it takes most of the fast moving piano parts from the original. The beautiful melody jumps around between the players while the backing harmonic material is constantly changing, allowing each player a moment to shine.


Michael Nyman: The Heart Asks Pleasure First (Arr. Matthew Van Driel)

The thematic elements of Thaw are inspired by two events. The first, as the title implies, is a natural transition and exit from winter. This is not the slow melting of ice and snow, but rather the abrupt and caustic fracturing of winter as it ends. Imagine river rice shearing and snapping as it warms in early spring. The second event, making the piece particularly suited for Chinese instrumentation, is the visit of President Xi Jinping to a Beijing cafeteria in January 2014 to eat baozi. Viewed largely as a publicity event, this visit highlighted public perceptions of growing inequities and government corruption, leading to nonviolent protests by disconnected groups under the guise of the “right to eat baozi.” Thus, just as natural environments can thaw, so can social and political environments.


Robert Oxoby: Thaw

This piece is my first attempt at writing for a Chinese ensemble of any sort. Structurally and technically, I chose to approach the instruments from my own western perspective and musical training, rather than attempt the impossible feat of writing authentic contemporary Chinese music. Idiomatically, of course, the pentatonic scale inherent to the zheng is unnatural to avoid, and in this way I tried to use the idiomatic qualities of the instruments in order to write what is (hopefully) effective music for them.

Abstractly, however, there is also an extra-musical programmatic basis behind this composition. I completed this piece while staying in Shanghai in the spring of 2014; Shanghai is a beautiful and culturally rich city, and Old Shanghai in particular captured my fascination. The brightness of this piece, the pentatonic basis, is a reflection of my admiration of Old Shanghai. The chromaticism, however, the occasional dissonances, reflect Shanghai’s current troubles – increasingly severe smog and pollution – which mar and conceal what still survives beneath it. The ending of this piece, however, represents my optimism that Shanghai can eventually overcome its current environmental issues.


Lucas Oickle: Shanghai Asterisms

Land requisitions and forced evictions are unique phenomena in modern China. Expropriation of land for alleged public interests of course trumps individual property rights in our socialist state. The title of the piece is a play on words: it just so happens that the English word, “China”, is a homophone to the Chinese word 拆哪 “Chai Na”, meaning “demolishing” or “to be demolished”, written in red paint on every expropriated building. The entire neighbourhood in which I spent my childhood and adolescence is now a ghost town of rubbles, awaiting its future as a commercial resort.

The juxtaposition between glissando and staccato of the guzheng and slide and tremolo of the erhu constructs a scene of destruction and construction; that of a paradox which is simultaneously mechanical and emotional, social and personal, rational and completely irrational. Hopefully, a listener finds in this piece not only the defenseless anxiety, the vulnerability of restless abrasion onto an exposed nerve, but also the melancholy and even sentimentalism deep down under the ruins of loss and despair.


Dim Sum Ensemble

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