Made for xūn player, Li Yue. Mixed version for xūn player and 8-channel recording 13’30; fixed medium for 8-channel version recording 12’10.

Programme note: The story of this work starts when the President of the Shenyang Conservatory of Music gave the composer a gift of a replica traditional xūn from Liaoning Province asking him whether he could make an electroacoustic composition with this instrument. This work, the successor of the Musicacoustica 2013 (Beijing) commission, China / Music Old / New is the result. Its source material consists of samples taken from a recording made at the Tianjin Conservatory of music in June 2013 during which master musician, Li Yue played pieces, improvised and recorded various techniques on four different xūns . It is this material that has been recomposed on the 8-channel recording. Only one sound in the composition was transposed to support musical coherence; all others are exactly as recorded. The piece’s goal is to celebrate the xūn’s rich tradition and demonstrate that it can sound very new, too. It has been composed exclusively for Li Yue and exists in a ‘mixed’ 8-channel and live xūn version as well as the ‘fixed-medium’ 8-channel version performed at this concert. The video of the premiere follows below.