JING PENG (b.1965): Suite der Jugendlichen, Kindheit, Märchensuite, Perpetuum Mobile (Duo), Tsaur Tsau, Atmung des Kerzenlichtes, Fantasie des Wassers.

Description: Taiwanese 'new simplicity'. The two suites consist of miniatures depicting scenes of childhood and fairy tales respectively. These pieces, written in a deliberately unsophisticated style use folk idioms extensively, with an emphasis on melody, based on pentatonic scales. Vivacious and playful, or dreamy and atmospheriic, the works are instantly attractive and charming. Occasional glissandi and harmonics suggest an 'eastern' atmosphere, but nothing qualifies as 'extended' or sounds particularly contemporary. The tiny 'Childhood' quartet could be a movement from one of the suites, while the Perpetuum mobile is exactly that, in rapid-running pentatonic scales. These pieces are all recent; the odd work out, both chronologically and stylistically, is 1992's Tsaur Tsau quartet, after the 14th century Chinese historical novel 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'. The work employs far more of the repertory of contemporary Western quartet writing, with harsh dissonances, rough sounds and pointillistic passages. The remaining two pieces, from 2014, combine electronic sound effects - atmospheric but not integral to the musical material - with conventionally played instrumental music. “Breaths of Candlelight” is a long cello melody, while “Water Fantasy”, a portrait of a busy port, consists of little irregular musical figures of varying character and an indolent jazz trumpet line, like a visitor nonchalantly strolling through the streets. Jade Quartet, HP Ockert (trumpet), Yatang Hsu (electronic sound design - Atmung and Fantasie).