Deqing WEN, Love Song and River Chant (2006)for solo piano (8'24) by Imri Talgam 温德青《情歌与船夫号子》钢琴独奏

Pentatonic music is a yoke for a Chinese composer. I want to shake it off, but at
the same time I want to keep some trace of this "yoke." It is a challenge.
My goal with this piece is to demand virtuosity and to obtain a new sound for the
piano.
The first song is based on the folk song, "Small Road," from the north of China.
The original song contains a deep helplessness. The melody is continually
descending, perfectly expressing the sense of the lyrics: "Please take the small
road in back of the house, don't take the main road in front of the house". In
China, love between the young was taboo in the past. My composition's melody
always goes up, and the whistling of the pianist in the coda may be considered a
kind of rebellion.
The first song takes almost all of the original melody (measure 1 to measure 10)
from a northern Chinese folk song. The second song is composed by myself. It
imitates the style of a river chant from the south of China. The river chant was
sung by Chinese boatmen who had to pull a big boat from the lower to the upper
reaches of a river, and they shouted their work song together in order to inspire
energy. The song conjures the image of the incredible manpower required for this
task.
When the piano has reached the limits of its instrumental capacity, it cannot
express the additional energy and passion of this image. The pianist must do
something above and beyond simply playing the piano.