Fountains of KC
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Score title
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Fountains of KC
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Composer
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Chen Yi
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Program note
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We are in the city of fountains, and the word KC represents Kansas City, as well as the Kauffman Center. In my music, I express my excitement and impression inspired by the beautiful scenes of our city, which is rich with landmark fountains, to celebrate the opening of the Kauffman Center of the Performing Arts in 2011. Commissioned by the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance with support from the Kauffman Foundation for the Kansas City Symphony (led by its Music Director Michael Stern), the work premiered on September 23, 2011 at the Kauffman Center in Kansas City, Missouri. Scored for full orchestra, the duration of the work is about ten minutes.
There are two major motives in the piece. The first one is taken from image and gesture of water spurting. It's presented in my music by a group of strings with long and short sliding tone clusters. The material is being heard several times, serving as a frame of the musical structure, which leads our imaginations traveling to a different scene, from one to the other – mysterious, imaginative, colorful, playful, spiritual, and magnificent towards the end. The second is an energetic ascending 4-note thematic material, E-D-A-B, constructed by a minor seventh (2 perfect fourths overlapped) and a major second, to symbolize the lively city and our people. The melodic style is drawn from the folk music of Shaanxi province in China, where the first emperor was located. The eastern end of the ancient Silk Road, Xi'an is the capital of the province. It's also a Sister City of Kansas City.
Chen Yi