UDC: 780.616.433.087.1
     78.071.1 Лин М.

COBISS.SR-ID 283394060
_________________
Received: Nov 15, 2019
Reviewed: Dec 14, 2019
Accepted: Jan 10, 2020

#3 Mei-Fang Lin and Her Compositional Style: Analyisys of two Solo Piano Pieces Disintegration and Mistress Of The Labyrinth

Yingying WangFlorida State University College Of Musicyxw241@gmail.com

Citation: Wang, Yingying. 2020. "Mei-Fang Lin and Her Compositional Style: Analyisys of two Solo Piano Pieces Disintegration and Mistress Of The Labyrinth." Accelerando: Belgrade Journal of Music and Dance 5:3

Acknowledgments: This paper was the part of Doctoral Treatise at the Florida State University, College Of Music. The Treatise was defended on April 2, 2019. The author expresses her gratitude to the professors and supervisory committee David Kalhous (professor directing treatise), Alice Ann Darrow (University Representative), Diana Dumlavwalla (Committee Member) and Heidi Williams.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the contemporary Taiwanese composer Mei-Fang Lin’s two piano solo works, Disintegration and Mistress. Lin’s compositional aesthetic are intrinsically related to her educational background and cultural identity. The author is showing in her paper how this particular aesthetic is revealed in these two pieces. Lin’s musical language demonstrates a strong duality. On one hand, her European and American musical training imbued her music with an unmistakably Western voice. On the other hand, Lin’s studies of Eastern philosophy and traditional Chinese music infused her style with Eastern elements. Consequently, the author’s analysis illustrates how these two tendencies coexist in these two pieces.

Keywords:

Taiwanese contemporary music, eastern philosophy, cultural indentity

Introduction

Social Status And Economic Impact On Taiwanese Woman Composers

Taiwanese woman composers have benefited greatly from Taiwan’s political reformation of 1949-1987. Taiwan separated from the Republic of China in 1949 and began to implement democratization. Along with the political change, the economic boost enabled more opportunities for women composers in Taiwan, which provided them the opportunity to compete with their male contemporaries in pursuing higher educations.

This brought many beneficial outcomes, such as study abroad opportunities and an increase in cultural globalization, which has been greater than any previous historical period. When the single-party democracy led by the Government of Taiwan was finally established in the 1980s, the years following made Taiwan’s international role more prominent and more internationally involved for its open policy on trade and economy.

The economic boost also nourished the education system. For example, the ability for Taiwanese students to study abroad became more ubiquitous. The gender gap in education shrank, and women started to gain an equal status with their male counterparts to pursue higher education outside of Taiwan. Under this globalized educational trend, Taiwan has increasingly striven to provide opportunities to a wider range of students, and public funding and resources available for talented students, especially women, wanting to pursue their academic studies abroad has grown significantly. At the fifth generation, there is the highest number of female composers who have studied abroad (37 women); however, the summit of male composers who have studied abroad occurred in the third generation (27 men). The woman composer, Mei-Fang Lin was part of the fifth generation. As a result, she was raised during the best period for women composers, one in which the social conditions for their music and education was at a peak globalized level.

Biographical Sketch

Mei-Fang Lin was born in Taiwan in 1973. She received her bachelor’s degree from the National Taiwan Normal University, and moved to the United States to pursue her graduate education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of California at Berkeley, where she obtained her PhD in composition. She studied composition with Hwang- Long Pan, Ting-Lien Wu, and Yen Lu in Taiwan and Guy Garnett, Zack Browning, and studied electronic music with Scott Wyatt in the United States.

Lin has received many awards for her compositions: the Prix SCRIME in France in 2000, the 21st-century Piano Commission Competition in 1999, the finalist selection at the Concours International de Musique Electroacoustiques, Bourges in 2000, the Oncorso Internazionale Luigi

Russolo in 1999, and the Honorary Mention and Special Award in the Music Taipei Composition Competition in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Her works have been performed and broadcasted in the United States, Europe, and Taiwan. She also performs new music internationally as a pianist.

Lin also studied and lived in France from 2002-2005 with the support of the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Musicians and the George Ladd Paris Prize. (Lin 2018, babelscores ). She took courses in electronic music at the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM), where she worked extensively with many renowned composers, including Johnathan Harvey, Edmund Campion, Edwin Dugger, and Philippe Leroux.

Lin is one of many Taiwanese composers born after the 1950s who mastered composing electronic-acoustic music. She also incorporated Eastern cultural elements from I-Ching Theory, Qi gong, Tai ji quan, Nan guan, and the Beijing Chinese Opera into her compositions. During her stay in America and Europe, she distinguished herself from other musicians by infusing her Western musical training with her Eastern cultural heritage.

Lin is a well-trained concert pianist and a conductor. She has performed her piano pieces, including Disintegration and Mistress of the Labyrinth, at festivals across the globe. She has conducted many orchestras, including the Taipei National Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Parnassus Ensemble. For her role as a pianist, Lin has also composed several works for piano and electronics, often incorporating pre-recorded tape. For her solo work Interaction, for a computer-generated digital sound sampler and live piano, she first recorded the digital sampler and then the piano part.

Lin manages to balance both her Western and Eastern backgrounds in her compositions. Even though her undergraduate program was completed in Taiwan, the education there was quite Western, as she was trained in the Austro-German musical style. However, her own interest in the I-Ching, Tai Qi, and Nanguan Singing outside of her academic education formed an important part of Lin’s special compositional mind. As she has described:

(...) the concept of Chi (energy), gestures (from Tai Chi practice) for example, have become an important element of my music. But on the technical side of things, I mean the actual compositional techniques, they are all Western techniques I learned from studying works composed by masters in Europe and the US. (Wang 2018)

Chapter I

Compositional Style

My music is a place for me to explore what I like, look into my own past, and go deep into how I think and what my musical concerns are. So I really write music that represents who I am, how I think, and what I like. It is more for myself than anyone or anything else really. So it is hard for me to say if there’s any message I want to deliver. (...) I think a big part of my writing is tightly linked to my role as a performer (piano playing and conducting). So a lot of my music is quite physical because of that. These two pieces are no exception. They are both technically demanding and require certain level of technical prowess. But it’s definitely not virtuosity for the sake of being virtuosic. For me it is just part of the fun of performing, the physical aspect of playing. So these two are pretty typical of my piano writing, and do represent the different styles I have in different periods of my outputs. Both pieces touch upon the question of "energy", "theatricality" and "musical gestures". These are some of the major concerns of mine when writing music. (Ibid.)

Lin’s compositional output can be divided into five periods, each of which displays a distinctive trademark associated with different geographical locations in which she has spent time:

• Early period while she was a student in Taiwan (before 1997)
• The US period while she was a graduate student (1997-2002)
• Her time in Paris as a student (2002-2005)
• Returning to the US and working as a professional composer and academic (2005-2016)
• From 2016 on: after returning to her home country Taiwan, where she has been teaching at the Taipei National Normal University up to now.

As it is mentioned earlier, Lin’s works contain aspects of Taoism and Buddhism. The I-Ching, in particular, has played an important role in her compositional approach. In her piece Multiplication virtuelle, for example, the structure directly results from her study of the sixty-four hexagrams that represent the sixty-four conditions from I-Ching theory. When Lin incorporated I-Ching aesthetics into this piece, she organized each of the six blocks to articulate heptatonic scales. (Ni 2009) addition to her study of I-Ching, the musical gestures in many of Lin’s works synthesize the motion and energy from her own practices and understanding of Qi Gong. The musical lines and phrases represent the physical gestures of the body movements she learned from Qi Gong and Tai Qi Quan. In Disintegration, for instance, in order to create a unique flow of time and space, the timbre interlaces the two directions of movement, active and inactive, drawn from Tai Qi.

Compare to Lin’s contemporary women composer fellows, Eastern elements have commonly addressed as an indispensable cultural label for many of their works. The figures include Yi Chen, Yun du, Jingjing Luo, Sola Liu, Lei Lei and so forth. Lin’s approach for the oriental musical elements is tied intimately in the philosophical background and physical gestures, which is different to other Chinese woman composers who incorporate Chinese poetic components and tale stories which come either from royal empirical spread or from folklore extraction. Lin prefers to include abstract meaning of Eastern aesthetic and its view to the world; the fact is connected to timing and organization of the movement in Disintegration.

Alongside her Asian cultural background, French stylistic elements have played a considerable part in forming Lin’s compositional language. This can be attributed to her mentors, including Philippe Leroux (b. 1959), Jonathan Harvey (b. 1939), Chris Chafe (b. 1952), and Edmund Campion (b. 1957). She recalls her study with Campion as follows:

He values more than anything a personal voice that is original and hard to be imitated. So I sort of inherited that line of thinking, which probably explains why I don’t sound like any of my teachers. His ability to turn purely abstract concepts into an organic part of his musical work is something that I look up to. I see Ed more as a kind of spiritual guide to me. (Wang 2018)

In regard to Philippe Leroux’s influence on her music, Lin said:

I learned from him to take care of the detailed musical materials such as how to shape a musical gesture, how to create a hybrid timbre...etc. Philippe is someone who keeps pushing the boundary and never settles with something he is comfortable with doing. That is also an attitude I inherited from him. (Ibid.)

Among the French stylistic elements found in her music is a focus on color and timbre as opposed to mostly thematic and tonal development. It was at IRCAM in the summer of 1998 where Lin was exposed to electro-acoustic music. She applied her own perspective to this technique: she believed that she should create sounds and their durations and not for their own sake, but rather to extend the instrumental acoustic into other realms of space and time. (Service 2012). Between 1998 and 2008, Lin produced twenty-two works: three electro-acoustic works, seventeen instrumental works, and two other for mixed ensemble and electronic tape pieces.

Chapter II

The Analysis

1. Disintegration

Disintegration was composed during Lin’s graduate study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was commissioned by Ms. Jana Mason and her husband Richard Anderson through the 21st Century Piano Commission Competition in 1999. The piece has received numerous major performances and won distinguished awards, including first prize at the National Association of Composers USA Composers Competition in 2000 and third prize in the Society of Composers Inc./ASCAP Student Commission Competition in 2001 (List 1.1).

List 1.1. List of Major Performances of Disintegration (2000-2007)

1. Yarn/Wire Ensemble Concert, Mei-Fang Lin Portrait Concert, New York, NY (5/26/07)
2. Asia Pacific Festival, Wellington, New Zealand (2/14/07)
3. Amadeus Piano Festival, Tulsa, OK (6/26/04)
4. NOW Music Festival, San Francisco, CA (6/21/02)
5. Vancouver Pro Musica, Further East, Further West Festival, Vancouver, Canada (5/30/02)
6. Contemporary Chamber Orchestra Taipei, Mei-Fang Lin Portrait Concert, Taipei, Taiwan (12/7/01)
7. National Association of Composers USA Concert, Pomona, CA (4/20/01)
8. PPIANISSIMO Music Festival, Sofia, Bulgaria (3/22/01)
9. Parnassus Ensemble Concert, Merkin Concert Hall, New York, NY (3/6/01)
10. Society of Composers, Inc. National Student Conference, Bloomington, IN (3/3/01)
11. National Association of Composers USA Concert, Los Angeles, CA (2/10/01)
12. Society of Composers, Inc. Region V Conference, Muncie, IN (2/8/01)
13. Berkeley New Music Project Concert, Berkeley, CA (11/20/00)
14. Contemporary Chamber Orchestra Taipei Concert, Taipei, Taiwan (11/3/00)
15. 21st Century Piano Commission Award - Mei-Fang Lin Recital, Urbana, IL (3/8/00)

Here the external inspiration for Lin was her earlier work for two pianos called Journey to the West, written for her piano teacher Rolf-Peter Willes and his wife Lina Yeh, who were famous as a piano duo in Taiwan. They wanted to play a two-piano concert of folk song arrangements from different parts of the world. So, they commissioned Lin to write a piece for them using Chinese or Taiwanese folk songs.

At first, Lin wrote a 3-movement piece for them, each movement using a different folk song. The second movement of Journey to the West used the folk song "Jasmine." She incorporated the tune in a very straightforward manner: a clear melody on top with mostly Western harmonization. Lin was not entirely satisfied, however, with the way she used the folk song in that piece. Later, when she won the 21st-Century Piano Commission Competition at the University of Illinois and had to write a piano solo piece for herself, she decided to use this folk song again. But this time she took a completely different approach.

In this chapter I discuss three significant musical elements in Disintegration:

1. the organization of the work and the contrasts between movements
2. the use of a traditional folk melody within a Western harmonic context;
3. the use of extended techniques.

These three aspects I discuss correspond to the eastern stylistic elements in Disintegration. As mentioned, the address of Chinese components in Disintegration structured in the abstract form, no literacy of the programmatic assessment to be found in the use of the "Jasmine" tune. The cite of the folk melody has never developed based on the folklore story lies behind, the music language stands on its own right as of deploying a modern tonality. The distortion of the original "Jasmine", in other words, is regenerated by its new appearance and is not further dignified within the elaboration of tune’s original identity.

1.1. Organization of the Movements

The five movements are arranged in a succession of contrasts. Lin described it as (動–靜 -動-靜-動), which translates to English as Active - Less active - Active - Less active – Active. Movements I, III, and V have more forward motion and more energy. Movements II and IV are less active and more introspective. The folk song is used as an agent to unite the movements. However, in each movement, the tune is modified and abstracted differently, and this is part of how Lin organized the overall work. Lin described it like this:

It is as if the folk song comes closer to you, steps away to the background, and then comes back to visit again. The tune is most abstract in the second movement. The melody pretty much dissolved completely, and you hear only the resonance of the harmony. It is the most concrete in the fourth movement, although only very briefly, and in a distance (with the soft dynamic) as if it was hovering from the back of one’s memory. (Lin 2018)

1.2. Folk Tune Pentatonic Scale within New Harmonic Application

Disintegration is based on the Chinese folk song "Jasmine" (茉莉花). The same tune that was used in Puccini’s opera "Turandot" (Example 1.1). In each of its five movements, the theme undergoes various degrees of transformations. Regarding the use of folk tune elements, Lin said:

The five movements are the result of working out the materials. I sort of imagined this very concrete folk song disintegrated into various shapes and gestures in different movements. Sometimes one finds a big piece of the original folk song, but other times it is chopped up or hidden under other layers of things. (Ibid.)

Lin took an innovative approach to the treatment of the folk tune. Rather than presenting it in a straightforward manner with a clear melody on top and a Western harmonization underneath, she chose to distort the purity of the original tune using not only fragmentation but also dissonant harmonies.

Example 1.1. Melody of Chinese Folk Tune Jasmine Flower

Corresponding to the melodic design of the original folk tune, Disintegration’s intervals and harmonies are primarily derived from the Chinese pentatonic scale and its transpositions. Lin emphasized the fact that perfect fourths and perfect fifths can be stacked to form a pentatonic scale.

As shown in Example 1.2, five modes are used, and each mode has its own name. The pentatonic scale does not fit within the Western major/minor tonal key structure, so this piece is written without key signatures. Instead, the music is based on the intervallic relationships of the pentatonic scale, which alternates between the five modes. Because of that, the intervallic relationship across Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu is changing through each mode. In Gong mode, the interval structure is M2 + M2 + m3 + M2. In Shang mode, it is M2 + m3 + M2 + m3. Jiao has m3 + M2 + m3 + M2. Zhi has M2 + m3 + M2 + M2 and Yu has m3+ M2 + M2 + m3.

Example 1.2. Chinese pentatonic scale

For the use of the "Jasmine" melody of the piece, the pentatonic scale has been innovatively modified from its initial appearance. The most obvious case occurs at the very beginning in the upper voice of the right hand, where the opening fifth, A-E, is taken from the pitches A-C-D-E from the Yu mode with the outer interval is a perfect fifth. The subsequent fourth, D-G, comes from the same mode but starts on the pitch D (Example 1.3). The left-hand part is also derived from the same Yu mode of the pentatonic scale but is transposed to start on a different pitch, E-flat. The juxtaposition of the upper and lower parts creates dissonance, the half-step relationship of E in the right hand against E-flat in the left hand. Therefore, we hear two pentatonic scales layered in parallel motion on the same mode but in a dissonant relationship.

Example 1.3. Disintegration, mm 1-3

Lin’s unconventional application of the traditional pentatonic structure occurs in each movement. As the movements progress, the thematic idea from the beginning is manipulated and developed through extension and elaboration. The passages become longer, and intensification occurs with additional parallel dissonant relationships between the modes on different pitches. An increasing range of dynamics also contributes to the intensification. In Example 1.4, the upper voice in Jiao mode starts on pitch A against the Ab, and these two voices progress in contrary motion.

Example 1.4. Disintegration movement I, mm.43-48

The second movement is unmeasured, providing the performer with greater freedom and flexibility to manipulate timing and control the rhythmic flow, including pauses led by the proportional writing. The aim of the modification of folk tune in second movement is in its purpose of illustrating the effect of the resonance of the harmony and decay of the harmony at the same time. While the long notes are being held, the upper and lower voices move around the sustained pitches. Lin applies imaginative compositional methods to modify the folk tune. The pentatonic structure is redesigned but still identifiable.

In this movement, the pulse and timing extend the musical space inhabited by the pentatonic structure into an interesting harmonic domain. As shown in Example 1.5, the major seconds create a sustained dissonance that is embellished with iterations of the pentatonic scale in grace notes with the pitches in a displaced order. The pentatonic grace-note clusters are also intertwined with the sustained intervals of the fourth and fifth. The G-D in the right hand that appears at the end of the upper system in Example 1.5 is sustained while the pentatonic grace-note clusters continue to sound. These are then layered with the fourths Ab-Db and Eb-Ab (middle of the second system in Example 1.5).

Example 1.5. Disintegration movement II, mm. 9 -15

In the third movement, the dissonant pentatonic harmony continues to develop. The agitated propulsive rhythmic drive makes the clash of the dissonance more dramatic. In mm. 21-23, for instance, the Jiao mode scale cluster appears in syncopated rhythms on the white keys in the right hand while the left hand plays the Jiao mode in broken chords on the black keys, creating a dissonant contrast (Example 1.6). From this movement on, the tension implied in the juxtaposition of two versions of the pentatonic scale in half-step relationship becomes more dramatic.

Example 1.6. Disintegration movement III, mm. 19- 23

The "Jasmine" melody in its original form is most recognizable in the fourth movement (Example 1.7). The Zhi mode melody starts on the pitch D, providing a clear sense of the "Jasmine" tune, while the lower part in flat key pitches serves as the commentary on the upper tune. While the original "Jasmine" is identifiable within clarity of its melodic line, the scale is inverted. The contour of the tune reshapes the integrated line of "Jasmine".

Example 1.7. Disintegration movement IV, mm. 24- 29

The fifth movement reaches the climax where all five pentatonic modes appear. In the previous movements, only two or three different modes are presented. In this final movement, all modes are transformed, condensed, and combined. In measures 75-84, the sonorities of the Zhi mode and Yu mode appear simultaneously, with contrasting dynamics and a wide register within Gong mode and Shang mode (Example 1.8). The previously discussed juxtaposition of the two versions of the same pentatonic scales in half-step dissonance is not only maintained but highlighted in a more dramatic way which is far removed from the purity and simplicity of the original presentation of the "Jasmine" tune.

Example 1.8. Disintegration movement V, mm. 75-84

1.3. Extended Technique

Various extended technique, such as plucking and muting strings of the piano, evoke the timbre of the ancient Chinese instrument zheng and are used often in Disintegration (Example 1.9). Disintegration makes ample use of the stark timbral juxtaposition of conventional piano sound and these extended techniques which further fragment/disintegrate the "Jasmine" theme. The marking of the extended technique passage is straightforward, only the beginning of the first movement and the end of the last movement apply the technique. The imitation of the instrument zheng is a metaphorical use to open up the piece’s temperament, to set up the mood, and to give gestural intention to incorporate oriental elements within its harmonic design.

Example 1.9. Disintegration, first movement, mm. 8-16

2. Mistress of The Labyrinth

Mistress of the Labyrinth was composed after Lin’s return to the United States from Europe, while she was teaching composition at the University of Illinois. The piece was commissioned by the Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center in Taipei, Taiwan in 2008 and premiered by Chiao-Ying Chang in the "Soloists of Taiwan Series" on September 14th of that year. Since then, the piece has received over twenty major performances, as shown in List 1.2, and was the winner of the Kaleidoscope MusArts Call for Scores Competition for Emerging Women Composers in 2018.

List 1.2. Performance History of Mistress of the Labyrinth

1. H.E.R. Hear | Echo | Reflect Concert, Coral Gables, FL (3/24/18)
2. Jonathan Faiman Piano Recital, Concordia College, Bronxville, NY (11/22/15)
3. Hoff-Barthelson Music School HB Artist Series, Scarsdale, NY (10/8/15)
4. Locrian Chamber Players Concert, New York, NY (8/27/15)
5. College Music Society Northeast Regional Conference, Boston, MA (3/20/15)
6. Audio CD released on "Parma Music Festival Live 2013, Navona Records-2014"
7. Music Taiwan 2014, Taipei, Taiwan (11/23/14)
8. NACUSA National Conference, Atlanta, GA (11/14/14)
9. Lynn Raley: Contemporary Piano Music from Taiwan, Mississippi College, Clinton, MS (3/25/14)
10. Lynn Raley: Contemporary Piano Music from Taiwan, Millsaps College, Jackson, MS (3/17/14)
11. Parma Music Festival, Portsmouth, NH (8/15/13)
12. Lynn Raley: Contemporary Piano Works by Taiwan Composers, Taipei, Taiwan (6/8/13)
13. Lynn Raley: Contemporary Piano Works by Taiwan Composers, Hsinchu, Taiwan (6/4/13)
14. Lynn Raley: Contemporary Piano Works by Taiwan Composers, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (6/1/13)
15. Manchester New Music Mini-Fest, North Manchester, IN (2/23/13)
16. Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (2/16/13)
17. 16th Biennial Festival of New Music, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL (2/1/13)
18. 10th Annual Festival of Contemporary Music, San Francisco, CA (7/28/12)
19. North/South Consonance Concert Series, New York, NY (4/3/11)
20. College Music Society South Central Regional Conference, Little Rock, AR (3/4/11)
21. University of Illinois New Music Ensemble Concert, Urbana, IL (9/22/10)
22. SCI Region IV Conference, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC (2/5/10)
23. West Wight Arts Association Chamber Music Concert, Cardiff, England (10/11/08)
24. Soloists of Taiwan Series, Taipei National Concert Hall, Taipei, Taiwan (9/14/08)

It was inspired by the story "Mistress of the Labyrinth," a Greek mythological tale which involves the half-bull and half-man monster the Minotaur, a figure who dwelt in a maze-like construction. The mistress in the story is Ariadne, a powerful goddess who helped Theseus slay the Minotaur.

The work is inspired by the story of Ariadne, called in Greek mythology the "Mistress of the Labyrinth." Besides Ariadne, the tale involves among others Minotaur, a half-bull and half-man monster figure who dwelt in a maze-like labyrinth, and Theseus, whom Ariadne helps to slay the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth.

The piece is organized in three sections to convey particular aspects of the narrative. List 1.3 shows the structure. The A section is characterized by the fast, spinning figurations around the reference note B. The figurations in this section suggest the architectural features of the Cretan labyrinth and become a musical metaphor for the labyrinth. In the B section the texture and figurations change to suggest the battle between the Minotaur and Theseus. The reference note also changes from B to E. The application of revolving chords beginning in m. 177 suggests the defeat of the Minotaur. After the climactic section in mm. 177-99, the A’ section represents the culmination of the drama. The labyrinthian figurations based on the pitch B from the A section return, this time combined with revolving chords. Due to the brevity of this last section it could be considered as a coda.

List 1.3. Overall Structure of Mistress of the Labyrinth

Section	A	B		A’
Musical materials	B figurations	E reference	Revolving chords	B figuration returns, combined with revolving chords
Metaphor	Labyrinth	Battle	Dramatic climax: defeat of Minotaur	End of the battle
mm.	1-124	125-154	177	20-231

2.1. Figurations Associated with "Labyrinth"

The musical elements evoke the story and the challenge of the labyrinth itself with difficult passagework that is technically demanding on the performer. Lin said that the "title gives a sense of the labyrinth-like passages that I imagined and the triumph of the pianist who can master this technically demanding piece." The architecture of the Cretan labyrinth is endless and is constructed for the purpose of trapping the Minotaur inside. The contours of the musical lines and the circular gestures and motions mirror the design of the labyrinth.

Lin uses fast 32nd notes in groupings of different subdivisions of odd and even numbers of notes. The sequence of groupings constantly changes while the speed remains the same (Example 2.1). The non-stop spinning pattern requires a great amount of physical ability for the pianist to manage the articulations.

During author’s interview with the composer, Lin explained the important landmarks of the piece’s fast figurations. She grouped the notes based on two reference pitches, B and E. The ladder like architecture connects the shape of the music, which has a fluctuating route, to those fast figuration patterns across the full range of the piano register. B-natural is the important signpost note that is used for grouping the subdivisions; it first appears at m. 25 (Example 2.2). After a brief interlude-like passage in mm. 41-51, the figuration moves down three-octaves at m. 57; the B-natural returns as a reference note and the groupings extend into longer passages (Example 2.3). Each time when B recurs in A section, the tendency of the fast figurations is developed into longer passages. As the labyrinthian figuration continues to extend longer and longer without rests, the centrality and constant re-emergence of B helps the performer in grouping the figurations. (Example 2.4)

Example 2.1. Mistress of the Labyrinth, mm. 203-208.

Example 2.2. Figurations grouped with B-natural as landmark. Mistress of the Labyrinth, mm. 25-26

Example 2.3. Mistress of the Labyrinth, mm. 57-58

Example 2.4. Mistress of the Labyrinth, mm. 101 – 110

The start of the middle section occurs at m. 124 when the reference pitch moves two-octaves higher to E (Example 2.5). Where at place as mentioned, the E reference note has its new appearance and significance, as it anchors the diverse melodic and rhythmical units (Example 2.5).

Example 2.5. Mistress of the Labyrinth, mm. 124-128

Not long after the E appears in the B section at m. 124, the sonority of the E is intensified by a dramatic propulsive drive (Example 2.6). The insertion of thirty-second rests at irregular intervals in mm. 139-42 alters the phrase structure, making the figurations sound more fragmented and forceful. The fortissimo dynamic level enhances the dramatic effect. While the groupings in this passage recall the phrase structure of the fast B-group figurations from the A section (as seen in Example 2.1), this time there is greater intensification due to the thicker texture (mm. 139 to 142). The textural similarity between these two passages (mm. 25-28 in the A section and mm. 139-42 in the B section) reveals also the similarity in transpositions of the reference pitch, i.e., it emphasizes the significance of the pitches B and E as organizational reference points in the form. It also highlights the proportional relationship between the A and B sections, which are almost equal in length.

Example 2.6. Mistress of the Labyrinth, mm. 139-141

Example 2.7. Mistress of the Labyrinth, mm. 156-161

The pitch E serves not only as a reference point for the figurations but also as a cadential pitch. As shown in Example 2.7, the triplet figures on E announce the cadential purpose that arrives at the fermata (m. 160) and that leads into the combat portion of the battle. It corresponds with Lin’s explanation of her use of cadence during our interview; the way she archetypically approaches the cadence is to position the fragmental phrase at places where certain notes or intervals linger. It is not a coincidence that the B section begins by using the E reference note in a repetitive pattern (m. 124) and this idea returns at m. 154 to suggest the heat of the battle.

2.2. Use of Revolving Chords

The influence of French music from Lin’s studies in France is idiomatically reflected in this piece. Lin was inspired by the compositional style of composers like Olivier Messiaen, Pierre Boulez, Chris Chafe, and Edmund Campion. The piece’s battle element that is associated with dramatic musical force reflect the employment of the chords. The dramatic section describing the defeat of the Minotaur begins at m. 177 and ends at m. 199. Here, Lin moves away from the previous figuration of fast running group and broken rhythmic pulse and introduces a particular compositional technique involving the so-called revolving chords, a method similar to Oliver Messiaen’s use of such rotating sonorities.

In Messiaen’s treatment, there are three stages of revolving chords that are developed based on his initial precomposed 288 chords. The revolving process is the result of the transposed inversions and of use of total chromaticism, which relies on exclusively harmonic style of writing. An example of Messiaen’s use of revolving chords can be seen in Figure 1.1:

Figure 1.1. Revolving process, partial selection from Traité of Volume V

The revolving process shown in the example illustrates the deduction of the chords, which the tables (b) from the initial setting of the 288 chords work out as the contracted resonance. The row (c) is the result of the deduction, after the transposition of the contracted resonance in (b), the (c) is just the chromaticism on the same bass.

This procedure remains a distinctive hallmark in most of Messiaen’s music, he is fond of using such precomposed compositional technique. (Cheong 2003, 5). This corresponds to Pierre Boulez’s famed criticism on Messiaen’s writing style as "he does not compose – he juxtaposes – and he constantly relies on an exclusively harmonic style of writing". (Boulez 1991, 49).

Lin’s use of similar methods serves a dramatic purpose in Mistress of the Labyrinth. As the narrative depicts the combat section of the battle, the music drama is reflected in this chordal structure (Example 2.8).

In Lin’s use, the climactic point of the drama in B section refers to the defeat of the Minotaur, and the musical metaphor relates to revolving process. This compositional technique emulates the narrative of the story. For instance, the descending line of the chords suggest Minotaur’s slow death. In this example, the resonance of the inner voices alters the intervallic structure of the chromatic motion, that is arranged by the overlapping use of dissonances and consonances.

Example 2.8. Mistress of the Labyrinth, "Defeat of Minitour", mm. 181-185.

2.3. Rhythm and Pulse

In Mistress of the Labyrinth, the transition between individual rhythmical units is complicated. Lin’s writing is very precise and includes detailed and complex notations for fast and slow figurations of each beat (Example 2.9).

The changes sometime occur abruptly. As shown in this example, the transition between subdivisions in odd numbers is suddenly interrupted by the triplet figure, which is combined with dotted syncopation and syncopated eighth notes.

Example 2.9. Mistress of the Labyrinth, mm. 40-45

For the pianist, the counting methods and strategies keep changing; quarter notes and eighth notes usually serve as means to unify large beats. At measure 40, the fast figurations grouped into five and eleven makes it impossible for performer to count smallest note values. It is easier for pianist to just count two quarter notes on each beat. At measure 41, the figuration suddenly changes to the triplet meter, and the syncopation ads to the complexity of the rhythmic units. To simplify counting, the pianist can use two eighth-note triplets as a reference. At measure 42, we find ourselves in duple meter, again with added syncopation. In order to simplify, the performer should organize the rhythmical material into two sets of eighth notes.

Chapter III

The Author’s Interview with the Composer Questionnaire for Dr. Mei-Fang Lin

Part I – General questions for both pieces (Rundown of two solo piano pieces Disintegration and Mistress of the Labyrinth):

Can you please explain the formulation of your musical style? How much influences from your mentors (Edmund Campion, Edwin Dugger, philippe Leroux, etc.) while you pursue your graduate degrees in US and your educational experience in Europe? What are differences from each of them on impacting your compositional aesthetic?

• All of my teachers have influenced me in my thinking and musical integrity. But my music sounds nothing like any of their own music. My early composition teachers included Ting-Lien Wu, Yen Lu and Hwang-Long Pan. They all helped me develop a very strong foundation both on the technical level and aesthetic level. Edmund Campion is definitely the biggest influence for me while I studied in the US. Ed is a real thinker. He values more than anything a personal voice that is original and hard to be imitated. So I sort of inherited that line of thinking, which probably explains why I don’t sound like any of my teachers. His ability to turn purely abstract concepts into an organic part of his musical work is something that I look up to. I see Ed more as a kind of spiritual guide to me. Philippe Leroux is another major influence for me, but more on the actual musical details. I learned from him to take care of the detailed musical materials such as how to shape a musical gesture, how to create a hybrid timbre...etc. Philippe is someone who keeps pushing the boundary and never settles with something he is comfortable with doing. That is also an attitude I inherited from him.

Regarding nationality, how do you define the cultural identity in your composition? Compare to your stay in US and Europe, in what way that you mingle your education of Taiwan and abroad together to create your own idiosyncratic voice?

• My musical education in Taiwan was very Western. We learned Mozart and Beethoven in schools, and not much about our own traditional music. But because of my own interest, I started getting into I-Ching, Tai Chi, Nanguan Singing when I was in college. Although these are all things I learned outside of school, they formed the most important part of my thinking and what I’m concerned about. So the concept of Chi (energy), gestures (from Tai Chi practice) for example, have become an important element of my music. But on the technical side of things, I mean the actual compositional techniques, they are all western techniques I learned from studying works by composition masters in Europe and the US.

When was your compositional period for these two works produced, and in what context?

• I can sort of divide my musical output into these periods:
  1. Early period while I was a student in Taiwan (before 1997)
  2. My US period as a graduate student (1997-2002)
  3. My time in Paris as a student (2002-2005)
  4. Returning to the US and started working as a professional (2005-2016)
  5. Now, after returning to my home country Taiwan. (2016-now) "Disintegration" was done during my US period as a graduate student. "Mistress of the Labyrinth" was done after I returned to the US and started teaching at the University of Illinois.

Where these two pieces composed? In Taiwan or in your stay of other countries?

• "Disintegration" was written in Urbana, Illinois as a result of me winning the "21st Century Piano Commission Competition" at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign when I did my master’s degree there. The piece was premiered by myself in the "21st Century Piano Commission Award - Mei-Fang Lin Recital" on March 8, 2000 "Mistress of the Labyrinth" was commissioned by the National Theater and Concert Hall in Taiwan and premiered by Taiwanese pianist Chiao-Ying Chang, who was selected to be featured in the "Soloists of Taiwan Series" on September 14, 2008.

Can you please give an brief outline as to shed light on compositional credo of these two solo piano works? What messages you would like to deliver? Do they archetypically represent your musical style, especially your piano music?

• My music is a place for me to explore what I like, look into my own past, and go deep into how I think and what my musical concerns are. So I really write music that represents who I am, how I think, and what I like. It is more for myself than anyone or anything else really. So it is hard for me to say if there’s any message I want to deliver. I think a big part of my writing is tightly linked to my role as a performer (piano playing and conducting). So a lot of my music is quite physical because of that. These two pieces are no exception. They are both technically demanding and require certain level of technical prowess. But it’s definitely not virtuosity for the sake of being virtuosic. For me it is just part of the fun of performing, the physical aspect of playing. So these two are pretty typical of my piano writing, and do represent the different styles I have in different periods of my outputs. Both pieces touch upon the question of "energy", "theatricality" and "musical gestures". These are some of the major concerns of mine when writing music.

Would you mind to list all awards and honors, invitations to present in concerts that you received for the compositions of Disintegration and Mistress of the Labyrinth?

• A. "Mistress of the Labyrinth": [Performance History: See List 1.2.]
  1. Commissioned by the Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center in Taipei, Taiwan in 2008
  2. Winner of the Kaleidoscope MusArts Call for Scores Competition for Emerging Women Composers in 2018
  3. Audio CD released on "Parma Music Festival Live 2013, Navona Records-2014."
• B. "Disintegration": [Performance History: See List 1.1]
  1. Commissioned by the 21st-Century Piano Commission Competition at the University of Illinois in 1999
  2. Won the First Prize at the National Association of Composers, USA Composers Competition in 2000
  3. Won the Third Prize in the Society of Composers Inc./ASCAP Student Commission Competition in 2001

What kind of genres do these two pieces have tackled respectively? How do you conceive sonic matters in piano music?

• I don’t think about what style or genre my music belongs to. I just write my own music. A lot of the inside piano playing in "Disintegration" was done to imitate traditional Chinese instrumental sounds, such as Guqin.

To what extent that you correlate titles with narrative elements and make them exhibit musical ideas literally?

• I never take external programs literally and translate them into my music. So the titles for me are often just a point of departure. They might suggest how I organize and develop my materials (in the case of "Disintegration"), or they might provide a more general atmosphere or state of listening (in the case of "The Mistress of the Labyrinth") The narratives in my music are never very explicit or in the foreground. They usually take a more abstract role in its existence.

Do you want listeners think the music with its story underneath, or rather concentrate on its abstract?

• My music is not programmatic. So there’s usual no concrete story underneath.

How do you apply motivic structure and tonality to convey the musical idea in these pieces?

• I don’t know how to do a general description of what I do in these two pieces in terms of your questions. Sorry.

Have you intentionally applied strict tone rows to suggest explicit sound you want?

• I don’t use tone rows in any of my music.

Part II

A. Questions for Disintegration

What is Disintegration about?

• The piece is based on a Chinese folk song called "Jasmine" (茉莉花), the same tune that was used in Puccini’s opera "Turandot". The five movements are the result of working out the materials. I sort of imagined this very concrete folk song disintegrated into various shapes and gestures in different movements. Sometimes one finds a big piece of the original folk song, but other times it is chopped up or hidden under other layers of things.

What inspires you to compose this piece?

• I had written a piece for two pianos called "Journey to the West" for my piano teacher and his wife a long time ago. (My teacher Rolf-Peter Wille and his wife Lina Yeh form a very famous piano duet in Taiwan). They were doing a two-piano concert of folk song arrangements from different parts of the world. So they commissioned me to write a piece for them using Chinese or Taiwanese folk songs. I wrote a 3-movement piece for them, each movement using a different folk song. The second movement of "Journey to the West" used this folk song "Jasmine". The way I used it in "Journey to the West" was very straightforward: a clear melody on top with more or less western harmonization. I was not entirely convinced with the way I used the folk song in that piece. So when I won the "21st-Century Piano Commission Competition" at the University of Illinois, and had to write a piano solo piece for myself, I decided to use this folk song again, but took a completely different direction with it.

There are large numbers of displacing interval fourth, any particular reasons on it?

• Those intervals of fourth came from the pentatonic scale. You can stack up straight perfect fifths or perfect fourths to form the pentatonic scale.

Can you please give some performing suggestions for each movement? What would be the ideal interpretation that you wish to hear from pianists?

• This is a hard one to say. I don’t generally tell others what to do with my piece. Of course I have certain preferences in regards to how the piece is played. But I think in this case, I can only tell you that the five movements are constructed in a succession of contrasts. (動 - 靜 -動 - 靜 -動) So in movements I, III, V, there should be a lot more movement going forward, and contains more energy. In movements II and IV, the time sort of stops. So they don’t have as much of a moving forward quality comparing to the other movements. Those two movements are more introspective. Also, a lot of the piece is gestural. So that’s pretty much all I can say to you in terms of performing suggestions.

What kind of logical framework for you to organize its entire five movements?

• The five contrasting 動 - 靜 -動 - 靜 -動 movements I mentioned above was the overall framework. The degree of abstractness of the folk song was also used as an agent of organizing the movements. It is as if the folk song comes closer to you, steps away to the background, and then comes back to visit again. The tune is most abstract in the second movement. The melody pretty much dissolved completely, and you hear only the resonance of the harmony. It is the most concrete in the fourth movement, although only very briefly, and in a distance (with the soft dynamic) as if it was hovering from the back of one’s memory.

Why you include many repetitive patterns, to exhibit irregular timing and rhythmic unit along with? (Example Movement II, Movement III mm.34-37, movement V mm. 45-55, etc.)

• First of all, I don’t like regular patterns or regular timing. It bores me when things become too predictable. I find it more interesting when there’s a certain degree of familiarity, yet still very unpredictable. However, the last example you mentioned (movement V mm. 45-55), they are simply written-out accelerando and ritardando. In any case, when you find the same note, interval or chord that keep lingering around, that is usually where I want to stop the harmonic motion temporarily until when that is broken and the music moves forward again.

What’s your comprehensive note to performers for "Disintegration"?

• Think about gestures, movement, energy, and contrast. Especially with inside piano stuff, think ancient Chinese instrument like Guqin. Think timelessness, or the opposite or metrical time in certain movements.

B. Questions for Mistress of the Labyrinth

Why do you choose this title for the piece?

• The piece was inspired by the story of the "Mistress of the Labyrinth", this powerful Goddess figure in the Greek mythology. I think this title gives away a sense of the labyrinth-like passages that I imagined and the triumph of the pianist who can master this technically demanding piece.

What kind of narrative connection helps to shape the music?

• I don’t take things literally, but more just the essence and images that the story conjures up in my mind when I composed.

There are familiar repetitive patterns as compared to Disintegration, what’s the reason for that? (Example Mm.61-63, in D5; mm. 125-136 in E5; mm. 154-160 in E5; mm. 209-212 in D5; mm. 227-231 in Bb1.)

• For the same reason I explained above.

What are particular approaches as to group those fast running notes?

• Well, when I do it, I group things based on the highest note B (starting from m.101 for example), which means the groupings will be of various lengths, but they mostly run downward, with some exceptions for course. Not sure if this makes sense to you.

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Conclusion

Lin explains that her music is never by ruled by programmatic and extramusical ends. She avoids taking external programs literally and translating them into the music. The titles are often just a point of departure; they might suggest a process of organizing and developing the musical material, as in the case of Disintegration, or they might suggest a mere general atmosphere or a state of listening, as in the Mistress of the Labyrinth. As Lin clarifies:

The narratives in my music are never very explicit or in the foreground. They usually take a more abstract role in its existence.

Thus it seems certain that in the work under discussion, the "disintegration" refers to the purely compositional or spatial idea of fragmentation, rather than to a development of a particular story line. The plucked and muted strings in Disintegration suggest the compatibility of the resulting timbre with the character of the folk tune. As Lin’s note to the performer says:

Think about gestures, movement, energy, and contrast. Especially with inside piano stuff, think ancient Chinese instrument like Guqin. Think timelessness, or the opposite or metrical time in certain movements.

As for the Mistress of the Labyrinth, the most challenging aspect for the performer is to manage the rhythms and transitions across various metrical units. Reference beats for the counting process change very often as the units shift quickly between fast and slow musical materials. The composer’s specific notations require the performer to be very precise executing the rhythms. Technically the piece captures the physicality of Lin’s piano writing style. While the piece is highly virtuosic, this is not simply for the sake of virtuosity itself but rather to depict elements of the narrative. The ideal interpretation should concentrate on musicality in a way that enhances the dramatic effect and coherence of the story.

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References

1. Boulez, Pierre. 1991[1966]. Relevés d’apprenti [Paris: Editions du Seuil, 1966]. Translated by Stephen Walsh as Stocktakings from an Apprenticeship. Oxford: Clarendon.
2. Cheong, Wai-Ling. 2003. "Messiaen’s Chord Tables: Ordering the Disordered". Tempo 57(226): 2-10.United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
3. Lin, Mei-Fang. 2018. "Mistress of the Labyrinth for Solo Piano." Scores, 2008. Paris: Babel Scores (Accessed by October 15, 2018).
4. Lin, Mei-Fang. 2018. "Disintegration, for Solo Piano." Scores, 2000. Paris: Babel Scores
5. Ni, Liao Lin. 2018. Taiwanese Women Composers and Mixed Music. Beijing: EMSAN.
6. Service, Tom. 2012. A guide to Jonathan Harvey's Music. theguardian (accessed January 15, 2019).
7. Wang, Yingying. 2018. "Questionnaire for Dr. Mei-Fang Lin’s Musical Style and Two Solo Piano Pieces. Crafted by Yingying Wang for the partial fulfillment of Doctoral treatise, 2018. " PhD diss., University of South Florida.