My Song (M'ai Sang)

The folklore style and prelude-like first movement were constructed through the development of heterophony, a typical device of Asian music. The second movement is based on a humoristic and joyful folk song from Se Tsuan. The third movement is a savage dance in which the melody grows through a series of “Chinese sequences” (a term I invented to define a technique of melodic development in Chinese folk music, in which each time the initial motive is repeated it increases in number of notes, duration, and tessitura). And the last movement is a lonesome Nostalgia. This work is dedicated to Peter Serkin.

— Bright Sheng