COMPOSITIONS

* To obtain score and parts, please email me at info@alanchanmusic.com.

Percussion music
Jazz Big Band / Ensemble
Orchestral music
Chinese instruments
Vocal music
Chamber Music
Solo Instruments
Electronic music
Works in progress

B for Brazil (2010) for twelve percussion players  10' (Commissioned by Lien Percussion Ensemble, Taiwan)

Brazil constitutes the first letter of the term "BRIC," a name that represents a bloc of countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which are achieving rapid economic advancement in recent years. It is exciting to know, however, the culture from these countries also contribute a great deal to our musical advancement of the world, and make our life better and meaningful. In this piece we will focus on Brazil and it’s wonderful Samba music.
 
The various styles of Brazilian Samba are as diverse as Brazil itself. Yet no matter which style you are listening to, your body moves along with the energetic groove of the music. It often mixes with other musical cultures such as reggae to give us a fresh perspective. I wasted no time to mix it up with other grooves around the world too. I am creating a “hybrid vehicle” to celebrate this fabulous musical culture.
 
Bollywood movies often have exciting dance numbers using exciting grooves. How did I use it? That is something for you to find out! One the other hand, I also utilized a Chinese “rap” form called Xubainan (or counting olives) in the piece. A Chinese Opera narrative form, spoken words are accompanied by a steady pulse from the temple block. Its rhythm can be easily resonated with the audience. Single numbers are used as lyrics so it can be sung in any language, side-by-side with samba rhythms. So if you pick it up during the piece, please sing along!
 
This is the reason why percussion music is so unique and fun to be a part of. No matter how many different backgrounds and traditions, we can always find a common ground through RHYTHM!

Qin for voice and percussion 20' (Commissioned by the Snell Duo) available for purchase on Amazon

Qin is a seven-string zither of Chinese origin with a history of more than five thousand years. It was an instrument played by the aristocrats and intellectuals in ancient China. Although the music for qin is often pre-composed, the interpretation of the music is highly individualistic and often involves some improvisation. Intellectuals used it as an outlet for meditation.

“Qin – Three Songs About Nature” is a cycle of settings of three poems by Bai Juyi (C.E. 772-846) and Li Bai (C.E. 701-762) in the original Chinese language. The choice of this selection came from Chinese Literature scholar Jeannette L. Faurot’s article “Music and Nature in Ancient Chinese Thoughts” (1998). She points out that music is a medium for people to communicate their emotions with each other and with nature based on the notion of resonance and sympathetic vibration. (p.6)

This piece calls for two musicians – a female vocalist and a percussion player – providing an intimate set-up similar to qin music. The musical materials are freely associated, incorporating styles from contemporary classical to music from Brazil and jazz. This creative process, incorporating free association and meditation, is similar to the process found in Chinese literature mentioned by literature theorists Lu Ji and Liu Xie (Fourth and Fifth Century C.E. respectively). This centuries-old practice is incorporated with musical elements of the present day.

Performance history:

Sweet Bach for five percussion players 15' (Commissioned by Lien Percussion Ensemble, Taiwan, dedicated to Sam Lee) available for purchase on HoneyRock Publishing  website

We knew a great deal about Bach’s language and his wisdom by learning his music. This piece is an attempt to bring our Bach lovers to a different angle of understanding of Bach – by fusing his works to the contemporary language and medium (in this case, percussion). This is similar to the Marilyn Monroe’s portrait by Andy Warhol, or opera Einstein On the Beach by Philip Glass. This is a new experience of Bach’s music, with or without the connotation about the culture or time that he came from.

The first movement is called Fugue Islands. I was fascinated by the contrapuntal writing in the form of fugue and decided to take themes from Bach – the ostinati in the prelude of the G major Cello Suite and the Aria from the Goldberg Variations in a different tempo, and play simultaneously to contrast the tranquil and majestic feelings that these themes represent respectively – a kaleidoscope so-to-speak. Gavotte and Salsa are both folk dances in a fast tempo. The former came from the seventeenth-century France, the other from modern day Cuba. To have both in the same movement is truly a buy-one-get-one-free deal. Badinerie from Bach’s Orchestral Suite No.1 is widely known, and it originally means “to jest.” When it combines join force with the chant of Dies Irae, it marks the creation of the Skeleton Dance, and it also brings the piece to an end.

Performance history:

Without a Trail to Lace (Mother's Lament / Daughter's Lullaby) (2006-8) for voice and vibe 8' - First place, 2008 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest available for purchase on HoneyRock Publishing website

(Daughter's Lullaby - towards the end)
Courtney Huffman, voice; Ben Phelps, vibe

Short Version (115 words)

Without  a Trail to Lace is musical setting of a serial poem by Nicky Schildkraut, each part of the poem is spoken by a different character – mother and daughter. In Mother’s Lament the poet provides a heart-rending poetic trope of simple lines penned by a Korean mother to her unborn child (from the anthology I Wish For You A Better Life, Yeong & Yeong Book Company, 1999). The contrapuntal setting of this text brings out the anguished search of the mother for her daughter. Daughter’s Lullaby explores the emotional conflict of a child torn between the instinct to know her biological parent and her bitterness at having been abandoned by them.

Long version (361 words)

This is the story of the poet’s own journey as a Korean child adopted by Western parents. It is also a struggle shared by thousands of other children. In his doctoral dissertation Comforting an Orphaned Nation (2005), sociologist and adopted Korean Tobias Hübinette estimates, “Over half a century of international adoption from Korea has produced a population of 156,000 adopted Koreans of whom two thirds have ended up in the US.” (p.222) He points out that although these children may have been brought up in an environment of material comfort, they often suffer from a feeling of cultural dislocation.

It is this sense of dislocation that is brought out in Alan Chan’s music; the ornamented rhythms and nuanced singing style of Mother’s Lament represent the poet’s search for her Korean heritage, while the harmonically rich Daughter’s lullaby symbolizes her Western upbringing.

In Mother’s Lament poet Nicky Schildkraut provides a heart-rending poetic trope of simple lines penned by a Korean mother to her unborn child (from the anthology I Wish For You A Better Life: Letters From the Korean Birth Mothers of Ae Ra Won to Their Children, edited by Sara Dorow, Yeong & Yeong Book Company, 1999). The contrapuntal setting of this text brings out the anguished search of the mother for her daughter. Exaggerated vibrato is used throughout the movement to evoke the style of traditional Korean p’ansori singing. The harmonic pallet of the vibraphone is restrained to occasional diads; two pitches united briefly as if to symbolize a reunion between mother an daughter.

Daughter’s Lullaby explores the emotional conflict of a child torn between the instinct to know her biological parent and her bitterness at having been abandoned by them. The child’s voice switches to spoken words, as she imagines the circumstances of her conception. It is only at the end of the piece, after a maddening flourish that the child comes to term with her grief of the brutal reality of her father’s abandonment of both mother and child. In the final tones, Chan’s score indicates calmo as the vibraphone sounds out a diad, followed by a lone B natural, a symbol perhaps of the daughter’s coerced independence?

Performance history:

Floes (2002) for vibraphone solo 7'  MP3 (excerpt) - Second place, 2004 Percussive Arts Society Composition Contest available for purchase on HoneyRock Publishing website

Bill Solomon, vibraphone

metal...stone...being...cracked (2001/02) for five percussion players  12'
(Commissioned by Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong)
- Honorable Mentioned, 2002 ASCAP Morton Gould Composer Awards
- Winner, 2006 Louisiana State University Percussion Composition Competition
University of Memphis Percussion Ensemble MP3 (excerpt)

Jin Shi Wei Kai (literally translated as metal…stone…being…cracked) is an ancient Chinese idiom, dates back to the 5th century B.C., which tells about a famous archer and the struggle between his will and the unruly force of nature. It implies that if we have faith and effort, we can accomplish any difficult task. Similar proverbs can be found in the Bible such as “Moving Mountains” from Saint Paul.

OPEN (1999) for 3 percussionist MP3
It was originally composed for a student theater production called Open, directed by Gino Ng in Lehigh University.  This music appears in the beginning of the play as an overture.  The idea came from the methods of communication between humans in prehistoric time using drums.  A contrast would be the way we communicate using the Internet by typing into the computer.

Rene's Barcarolle (2009) for Jazz orchestra 9'

This piece is originally a musical setting of a text by French philosopher and poet Rene Daumal (1908-1944), and was premiered at Emily Mast’s thesis installation, Everything, Nothing, Something, Always (Walla!), at the Roski School of Fine Arts in Los Angeles. The Jazz Big Band version was completed in March 2009 in Brooklyn, New York.

Shrimp Tale (2005-07) for Jazz orchestra 8' MP3 (premiere performance, climax)
Ryan Lerman, guitar; Matt Rubin, trumpet; USC Thornton Jazz Orchestra (director: Shelly Berg)

I dedicated this uplifting piece to my cousin, in hope of making her feel better while she was recovering from a difficult divorce. Shrimp Tale is a recollection of life in Miami, where I lived for three years, and the diverse and vibrant culture there. It has a curvy narrative structure that includes two contrasting thematic elements: a groove-based 5/4-meter passage and a Salsa tune that are first exposed in short passages and are juxtaposed against each other. Various thematic transformations bring out different meanings for each element, often with a sense of humor or irony.The tensions created by this dichotomy begin to ease in the later part of the piece, when the previous ideas start to relate to each other in a series of events, and ultimately bring the piece to a happy ending.

Moving to a New Capital (2006/07) for Jazz orhcestra 12' MP3 (premiere performance, towards the end)
Kari Harris, Trombone; Alan Chan, conductor; USC Thornton Jazz Orchestra (director: Shelly Berg)

The original Chinese title of this work, Qian Dao Yuan*, literally means “Moving-Capital-Blues.”? This piece is a composer’s reflection on the severe pollution in Beijing, the capital of China. The number of infamous dust storms has increased and intensified in recent years, due to soil erosion and desert expansion created by over-harvesting during the Cultural Revolution (1968-78).? In addition, industrial and urban pollutants from factories and cars have worsened the air quality.? Over-population and industrialization have also caused water shortages in the region.? In 2002, the former prime minister of China, Zhu Yong Ji, warned that moving to a new capital may be the only option if no action is taken soon.
* It is also a pun on a title of a famous novel Chin Gong Yuan, which talks about the political conflicts in the imperial household of the late Chin dynasty.

Peanut Noir (2005) for Jazz ensemble 6'

Nica's Dream (Horace Silver, Arr. Alan Chan) (2001) for   MP3
Final project of Jazz arranging class, read by Concert Jazz Band of the University of Miami School of Music.

Midnight Mood(Joe Zawinul, Arr. Alan Chan) (2001) for 5 Saxs MP3
Mid-term project of Jazz arranging class, read by students from the University of Miami School of Music.

Daughter's Lullaby (2006/07) for chamber orchestra (2.2.2.2;2.1.1.0;t+2p;str.)

Daughter's Lullaby (2006/07) for voice and orchestra (voice;2.2.2.2;2.1.1.0;t+2p;hp;str.)
5' MP3 (reading session, from the beginning)
Courtney Huffman, voice; Joshua Roach, conductor; USC Thornton Symphony
- Chosen for the 2008 University of Southern California New Music for Orchestra Concert
- Chosen for the 2009 SCI CD Series under Capstone Records (release date: 2010)
- Chosen for the ERM Media Masterworks for the New Era CD Vol. 19 (release date: 2009)

Performance history

Burlesque (2004) for orchestra  12' MP3 (premiere performance, excerpt) - Winner, 2004 Concerto Aria Competition, University of Missouri - Kansas City available for purchase on Amazon

Burlesque is a form of cabaret show, complete with underdressed dancers and strip-tease elements, and was popular from the 1860s through the 1950s.  Burlesque is currently undergoing a bit of a revival, and the composer was intrigued with the humorous skits, fancy costumes and the frank, corny jokes (mostly about sex). 
The spirit of burlesque – a fast-moving panorama of entertaining events – is at the heart of this musical work, which features multi-ethnic and vernacular elements. Various forms of the scale are used to weave together such diverse musics as ancient Chinese ritual music and exotic gypsy circus fanfare, creating a modern burlesque, or an anarchical postmodern collage.

Composition (2) (Etenraku) (2000) for orchestra MP3  
Not long ago I began to be aware of music of my own heritage and for the first time, I incorporated it, as well as my recently discovered uses of color, into my own music.  Composition (2) is an orchestral adaptation of a piece of Gagaku music called Etenraku, Japanese ancient court music adopted from China during the Tang Dynasty (6-8th Century). It was read by University of Miami Symphony Orchestra.

Île de feu (2005, Olivier Messiaen, Orch. Alan Chan) for orchestra

Bitter Melon (2008) for erhu and pipa 13'
(Commissioned by Melody of China)

The inspiration of this piece came from a refreshing experience of having a cup of bitter melon juice at a night market in Taipei in Summer 2008. Bitter melon is known for its strong bitterness and its curious shape. It is a popular fruit being used in cuisines around the world and it has many culinary uses – juice, stir fry, sundry, and even curry sauce. This piece is hardly metaphoric if one has never eaten this magical fruit, so there is a little action during the piece to give us some clues. The music also explores the unusual timbre and dynamics of pipa and erhu. This piece is dedicated to my dear friend, Julia Poon.

Acala (2007) for quartet of Chinese instruments (sheng, zheng, yangqin, erhu) 12' MP3 (premiere performance, from the beginning)
(Commissioned by Melody of China)

In Vajrayana Biddhism, Acala is the best known of the Five Wisdom Kings of the Womb Realm.? Acala means “The Immovable One” in Sanskrit.? In Japan he is also worshiped in the form of the fierce Fudo Myo-o, whose duty it is to combat evil and to take charge of the soul after death.? His immovability refers to his ability to remain unmoved by carnal temptations. Despite his fearsome appearance, his role is to aid all beings by showing them the teachings of the Buddha, leading them into self-control.? He is also seen as a protector and aide in attaining goals. Temples dedicated to Acala perform a periodic fire ritual in devotion to him.
This one-movement piece uses erhu, yangqin, sheng and guzheng to represents his fearsome image.? It is done by a reoccurring tutti theme, characterized by rapid passages.? The tutti sections are often intervened by expressive solo passages, which represent the different temptations of the human kind.

Chanson (2005) for sheng solo 7' MP3 (climax)
Loo Sze Wang, Sheng

Victoria Dispensary (2010) for Hexnut 9' Youtube (premiere performance)
(Commissioned by the Walden School)
Hexnut:
Ned McGowan, flute/contrabass flute
Gijs Levelt, trumpet
Ere Lievonen, piano
Susanna Borsch, recorder/contrabass recorder
Stephanie Pan, voice

- Victoria Dispensary is an old drug store established in Hong Kong during the British Colonial Era.
- In the middle section of the piece, a song written and published on the American West Coast named "Ching, Chow, Chung"?????is quoted, this song is a parody of the Cantonese language, a southern Chinese dialect spoken among many Chinese immigrants.
- Besides gibberish lyrics, a Cantonese curse word ?? (pronunce as: po(ke) guy) is also used, together with the use of toy hammer, creates an animated image of villain hitting?????, an old folk sorcery practice in Hong Kong. Cantonese profanity is seldom used in the Contemporary Classical music.
- At the end of the piece, a radio commercial can be heard with the voice announcing: “ You are listening to “Victoria Dispensary” by Alan Chan.

Des Voeux (2007) for violin and cello 10' MP3 (premiere performance, from the beginning)
(Commissioned by Arts and Culture Development Fund with the support of Composers and Authors Society of Hong Kong)
David Leung, Violin; Letty Poon, Cello

This work is a tribute to Ravel’s Duo for violin and cello.? Like Ravel’s Duo, it is a piece with a heavy emotional content, and includes many advance writings for both instruments.? Des Vux was the governor of colonial Hong Kong (1887-1891) and the name of a street in memory of him, which now located in the center of the financial district in Hong Kong.? A French surname, Des Vux can be translated as “wishes.”? The piece starts with a somber fugal subject on cello.? With the violin joining, the intensity gradually increases until a repetitive and aggressive motive abruptly takes over in the middle of the movement.? After a dream-like transition, it closes with a peaceful hymn and with the returning fugue subject at the very end.

Q (2006) for wind quintet 7' MP3 (ending of 5th mvt.)
(Commissioned by Composers' Forum of the East)

Composition 1 (2000) for string quintet and harp MP3
The idea of this piece came from the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No.5.  The make up of the String Quintet, which consists of two violins, a viola and two cellos, was used in Franz Schubert’s String Quintet in C major.  Two cellos are used instead of one, which darkens the overall sound quality of the piece.

Composition 0 (2000) for woodwind quintet and percussion MP3
This is the first piece I have ever written, which involves a great deal of planning in terms of forms, texture, pitch organizations and timbre control.In this piece, I applied a lot of techniques that I learned during my stay in Vienna studying with Michael Jarrell.Through working with the members of the Other Music Ensemble, much potential in this combination was discovered and used in this piece.The sounds of each individual instrument are merged together and transformed from one color to another.

Queen Sonnets (2010) for voice and piano (text: Nicky Schildkraut) 10'
(dedicated to Courtney Huffman and Tali Tadmor)

Beautiful Rebirth (2008) for voice and piano (text: Ho Wen-Hsiung) 6'
(Commissioned by Lin-lin Chang Bel Canto Theatre)

A Spirit's Dream (2006) for voice and piano (text: Ho Wen-Hsiung) 6'MP3 (interlude)
(Commissioned by Lin-lin Chang Bel Canto Theatre)
Courtney Huffman, voice; Alan Chan, piano