My Other Song (2007)

for solo piano
1. quarter note = 63
2. quarter note = 80 sempre, non rubato
3. Prestissimo (quarter note = 144-160)
4. Slow funeral march (eighth note = 60 sempre)

Program Note

My Other Song was commissioned by Music Accord for Yefim Bronfman, to whom the work is dedicated. The premiere takes place on May 20th, 2007 at the Rose Theater of Lincoln Center, New York City.

In 1990, after eight years in the U.S., I wrote my first work for solo piano, titled My Song, commissioned for Peter Serkin. At the time my primary compositional concentration was to develop a melodic and harmonic style within the boundaries of Chinese folk music, which are mostly in pentatonic modes, and contemporary Western Classical music. As a result, all the four movements in My Song were either based on existing Chinese folk tunes or written in the style of it.

This year, I was asked by another virtuoso pianist friend Yefim Bronfman to write a work for solo piano. After the passing of seventeen years, I wonder if there is any change in my writing. I therefore titled the new suite My Other Song.

There are four movements in the composition, the first three of which are brief and provide contrast in character. The theme of the last movement, the longest, is based on a Buddhist chant heard at the wake for my mother in February, 2005.

—Bright Sheng