Faded
for solo piano
Yuchen Bian
(2019)
PROGRAM NOTE
In this piano prelude I express my great sorrow about the upheaval of the air quality on our planet. Considering how great our greed is, the problem of air pollution will only planet more and more disturbing and terrifying. It is a pathetic thing to see your beautiful hometown gradually lose its fresh air and become a place where you would not like to go back anymore. It evokes my memory of an ancient Chinese poem which depicts the plaintive picture of seeing a glamorous flower gradually falling and fading away, so this piece is also a requiem for fresh air.
In this work I incorporate lots of elements from traditional Chinese culture. The use of the strings inside the piano is an imitation of the playing technique of the traditional Chinese instrument GUQIN, akin to a Chinese auto harp. The chords with accent are an imitation of the moment in Chinese cursive calligraphy when the ink drops into the water and spreads out, while the free repetition of notes in random order imitates the sporadic gestures of this this writing style.
Yuchen Bian
Duration : ca. 5 minutes
PERFORMANCE NOTE
Put hand backwards and use the nail or any kind of metal beater to make glissando on the piano’s string follow the direction of the arrow. The square note head means approximate pitch. Same as above but also make tremolo between two or even three strings (like the “rasqueado” effect on the guitar)while glissing down.
The black note head stands for quarter note and the hollow note head stands for half note which gives the limitation of the duration of glissandi however the speed of glissandi can be free.
Randomly repeat the notes(there is no limitation of the number of the note)
with accel.
Notes without stem should be played rapidly and randomly like the “bisbigliando” effect on harp. There two types of the sign of accent in the piece. One is “>” which means little accent and the other is “^” which tells performer to hammer it. Because of the use of string, this piece must be performed on a grand piano and the performer should sit down/stand up as need to. The piece’s tempo is really free so performer can do rubato base on his or her own understanding of the music. Pedalling and dynamics must be executed precisely .
Faded For piano Freely, atmospherical q = 60 Lyrical, singing
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Yuchen Bian (2019)
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∑ ©2019 Yuchen Bian - All Rights Reserve
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Broader q = 40
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Repeat the notes in any order for 4 beats with accel.
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Repeat the notes in any order for 3 beats
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Take more time all the way to the end Desolaetly
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