San (cello version)

A prose for violoncello and tape Also known as San0 Five stereo MP3 files of the tape are supplied, one for each movement First performance: Frances-Marie Uitti, Harvard University, 2003 Composer noteNot unlike turning things inside out, Sanº is my inner hearing of the ancient Chinese ‘qin’ piece — Guang Ling San (廣陵散) — which is known for its underlying nobleness, due to the serial stories/metaphors associated with the piece. Using the computer to patch events together, my inner hearing is thus amplified; and at times, the tiny nuance that my inner listening field responded to, is tuned into a great happening in the piece. It was in the year 262 A.D. when Guang Ling San (廣陵散) was first publicly played by Ji Kang — right before his own public execution; the first written notation of the piece was then found in 1425 A.D., exactly eleven hundred sixty-three years later. In today’s time, what has remained in the music is ambiguous. The idea of tossing around the listening perception (m