Music Unlimited III: “Golden Dragon Zen Temple” (金龍禪寺)

Included in “Chinese Choral Music Anthology: Music Unlimited III.”

About the Work

The text of this piece is taken from the poem “Golden Dragon Zen Temple” by the poet 洛夫, which delicately depicts the scenery on the way home from a Zen temple. The opening uses the low register of the piano to evoke the approach of dusk, with piano harmonics imitating the temple bell; at the same time, the choir breaks the word “bell” (鐘) in “evening bell” into “zh-u-ong” (鐘-ㄨ-ㄨㄥ) to convey the reverberation of its sound. In the second section, the choir expands to eight parts, seeking to evoke ferns spreading over the stone steps. In the third section, a tenor solo draws the mood back into one person’s inner world and imagination: “What if it snowed here?” The choir meanwhile becomes a musical backdrop, conveying a snowy scene. In the final section, the basses break into the soloist’s thoughts with a forte, and the four voice parts then enter in turn, depicting lamps being lit one by one in the night.