UC Santa Cruz

My dissertation consists of two parts: a music composition, a Concerto for So- Ajaeng and Orchestra entitled “Breakthrough,” and an essay presenting analysis of two concertos – Tan Dun’s “Concerto for String Orchestra and Pipa” (1999) and Unsuk Chin’s “Šu for Sheng and Orchestra” (2009). For a long time I have worked to make connections between traditional Korean and Western classical influences in my music. My dissertation piece continues this effort. A concerto for a Korean instrument solo with Western orchestra seemed an ideal genre in which to move forward in this direction. Korean So-Ajaeng is chosen for solo instrument because of its penetrating and strong sounds that can compete with full orchestra.

Both Tan Dun and Unsuk Chin composed for a Chinese solo instrument with Western orchestra, but the composers’ musical and philosophical approaches to Asian traditions in their pieces are quite different. On the one hand, Tan Dun quotes from both Western and Chinese traditions strongly and directly. Melodies and styles from both traditions freely cross over the cultural borders and are often overlaid. On the other hand, Unsuk Chin resists any explicit reference to either Asian or Western tradition. Rather, she focuses on the technical characteristics of the sheng – particularly its ability to build and sustain multi-voice chords almost indefinitely. She takes this technical capability as a model for her writing for the orchestra. Tan Dun’s embrace of cultural references and Unsuk Chin’s avoidance of them could be said to represent extremes of a continuum of composers’ approaches and philosophies toward multicultural composition.