Introduction
In Ayurveda, the ancient Indian medical system, practitioners often speak of prakriti, your native state, the balance of energies you’re born with, and vikriti, your current state, the balance in which you find yourself at the moment. Health is thought to consist in bringing your current constitution back in alignment with that with which you were born. So much of self-knowledge has to do with this connection and reconnection with our origins, our birthright, our genesis, the soil from which we grow. And the hero’s journey derives much of its meaning from the return home, the opportunity to rediscover and recontextualize one’s place of origin.
This program offers a set of perspectives on the idea of home, culturally, intellectually, emotionally, and geographically. Prominently featured is a new work by Lei Liang in honor of his teacher, the great composer Chou Wen-chung, a response to the spiritual home provided by the inspiration and mentorship of a profound artist. We offer, as well, a movement by Chou that has its roots in the artistic home of Chinese calligraphy and poetry, an earlier work of Lei Liang’s that grows out of Mongolian music, as well as movements by Dvorak, Schubert, Bartok and Monteverdi that evoke a sense of place, identity and heritage. Together they have much to tell us about our sense of ancestry, both actual and metaphorical, and how it sculpts and shades our understanding and emotional landscape.
By Mark Steinberg
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序言
在阿育吠陀这一古印度医学体系中，行医者常常谈到本我（prakriti）——你与生俱来的本然状态和能量平衡，以及现我（vikriti）——你当下所处的平衡状态。健康被认为在于让你当前的体质回归与出生时的平衡状态。自我认知很大程度上与这种联系和重新连接我们的起源、与生俱来的权利、创始之源以及我们成长的土壤有关。而英雄之旅的意义很大程度上来自于回归故乡——重新发现和重新理解自己出生地的机会。
本场音乐会从文化、智识、情感和地理层面，为”故乡”这一概念提供了一系列视角。其中重点呈现的是雷亮为纪念他的老师——伟大作曲家周文中而创作的新作，这是对一位深刻艺术家的启发和指导所提供的精神家园的回应。我们还将呈现周文中植根于中国书法和诗歌艺术故乡的一个乐章，雷亮另一部源于蒙古音乐的早期作品，以及德沃夏克、舒伯特、巴托克和蒙特威尔第唤起地域感、身份认同和文化传承的乐章。它们共同向我们述说着我们的血脉传承感——无论是真实的还是隐喻的，以及它如何塑造和渲染我们的理解和情感世界。
作者：马克·斯坦伯格
Chou Wen-Chung: String Quartet No. 1 “Clouds”
For decades I have been developing ways of synthesizing the concepts and practices of Eastern and Western music. I consider chamber music the ideal medium for the realization in sound of the results of this aesthetic and theoretical thinking. Because of its exceptional homogeneity, the flow of sound of a string quartet is as close a sonic equivalent to the flow of ink in brush calligraphy as that of the music for the qin (zither). I believe calligraphy is the foundation of all artistic expression in China and that qin music is the essence of Chinese musical expression. Both have influenced me deeply. In my quartet, I attempt to fuse my musical thoughts with the legacy of the string quartet.
The title Clouds refers to the quality shared by cloud formations and calligraphy: the continual process of change. The phenomenon of “mingling and melting clouds” — in transformation, aggregation, and dispersion — is the aesthetic impetus for the musical events and progressions in the quartet.
This ephemeral phenomenon is expressed through variable modes based on permutations in the I Ching (Yijing, or Book of Changes), the concept of yin-yang duality, and various modal theories of the East and West. The octave is divided into three contiguous minor thirds, each either yin or yang, depending on how it is further partitioned into major and minor seconds. Each modal formation consists of a permutation of these tripartite segments, in ascending and descending orders. Each mode may consist of, in either direction, six to 12 pitches, according to the number of partitioned segments and the division of major seconds.
This continual mutation in the progression and interplay among modes results in alteration of intervals by a half-step musical phenomenon confirming the concept of yin-yang exchangeability as well as that of chromatics in Western music. This process not only influences the changing pitch and interval content in the flow of sound but also conditions progressions in duration, dynamics, register, and contour.
By Chou Wen-Chung
Lei Liang: Madrigal Mongolia (for string quartet, 2024)
Madrigal Mongolia sprang from a musical and spiritual heritage that has a special place in my heart – the music of Inner Mongolia.
I have loved this music since my childhood. One of my family’s closest friends, the renowned Mongolian scholar Wulalji visited our home in Beijing frequently. With a sip of alcohol, he would start singing, sometimes continuing late into the night. These personal memories date to the years after the Cultural Revolution, when obnoxiously cheerful propaganda music flooded the airwaves. Yet it was these lonely long songs that evoked in me a deep sense of longing and awakening.
The Mongols were the world’s most feared conquerors, yet the music they sing today is not martial in character. Quite the contrary, they sing of a mother’s devotion, friendship, loss of loved ones, and homeland. Their melancholy sentiments are understandable, for the warriors were always far from home. These songs remind us of what it means to be away.
Aren’t we all living far away from “home” today?
Madrigal Mongolia was commissioned by the Brentano Quartet, who worked closely with Professor Chou Wen-chung,who once told me these inspiring words about the cultural heritage of our home: “In calligraphy, every stroke has emotion. Here, lines become waves, and becomes textures.” Madrigal Mongolia was written in memory of him.
Madrigal Mongolia was commissioned by the Spiralis Music Trust in honor of Chou Wen-chung, ProtoStar Group, Salt Bay Chamberfest with Richard Replin, and Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts.
Note by Lei Liang
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周文中：第一弦乐四重奏《云》
数十年来，我一直在发展融合东西方音乐理念和实践的方式。我认为室内乐是将这种美学和理论思考在声音中实现的理想媒介。由于其卓越的同质性，弦乐四重奏的声音流动是最接近毛笔书法中墨水流动的声音等价物，如同古琴音乐一样。我相信书法是中国所有艺术表达的基础，而古琴音乐是中国音乐表达的精髓。两者都对我产生了深刻影响。在我的四重奏中，我试图将我的音乐思想与弦乐四重奏的传统融合。
标题《云》指的是云彩形态和书法所共有的品质：持续的变化过程。”云卷云舒”的现象——在转化、聚合和消散中——是四重奏中音乐事件和进展的美学推动力。
这种瞬息万变的现象通过基于《易经》（或《变化之书》）排列组合的可变调式、阴阳二元概念，以及东西方各种调式理论来表达。八度被分为三个连续的小三度，每个根据其进一步分割为大二度和小二度的方式而呈现阴或阳的性质。每种调式形态都由这些三分段的排列组合构成，按升序和降序排列。根据分割段的数量和大二度的分割，每种调式在任一方向上都可能包含6到12个音高。
调式间进展和相互作用的持续变异导致音程以半音步进行改变——这一音乐现象证实了阴阳互换的概念以及西方音乐中半音化的概念。这一过程不仅影响声音流动中音高和音程内容的变化，也制约着时值、力度、音区和轮廓的进展。
作者：周文中
雷亮：《蒙古牧歌》（为弦乐四重奏而作，2024年）
《蒙古牧歌》源于一种在我心中占有特殊地位的音乐和精神遗产——内蒙古音乐。
从童年起我就热爱这种音乐。我们家最亲密的朋友之一，著名的蒙古学者乌拉吉经常造访我们在北京的家。喝一口酒，他就会开始歌唱，有时一直唱到深夜。这些个人记忆可以追溯到文化大革命之后的岁月，那时令人厌恶的欢快宣传音乐充斥着电波。然而，正是这些孤独悠长的歌声在我心中唤起了深深的渴望和觉醒。
蒙古人曾是世界上最令人畏惧的征服者，然而他们今天所唱的音乐却并非尚武的性格。恰恰相反，他们歌唱母亲的挚爱、友谊、失去亲人的痛苦以及故乡。他们忧郁的情感是可以理解的，因为这些战士总是远离家乡。这些歌曲提醒我们身处异乡意味着什么。
我们今天不都是生活在远离”故乡”的地方吗？
《蒙古牧歌》由布伦塔诺四重奏委约创作，他们与周文中教授密切合作。周教授曾对我说过这样一句关于我们故乡文化遗产的启发性话语：”在书法中，每一笔都有情感。在这里，线条变成波浪，变成质地。”《蒙古牧歌》正是为纪念他而作。
《蒙古牧歌》由螺旋音乐信托基金为纪念周文中而委约，原星集团、与理查德·雷普林合作的盐湾室内乐节，以及卡拉默音乐艺术中心联合委约。
雷亮撰写
