Music Unlimited I: “Three Refrains at Yang Pass” (陽關三疊)

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

About the Work

This commissioned choral work was completed in 2006. Its concept stems mainly from the idea of the “three refrains” (三疊) in Wang Wei’s poem, which divides the main structure of the piece into three parts. Each part is built on the same melodic material, and through shifts and changes of texture the work seeks to portray the feelings of people facing separation from, and the deaths of, their loved ones under the cruel conscription system of the late Tang dynasty.