My Other Song: for Piano

(Piano). Composer Note: In 1990, after eight years in the United States, 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 their style. I was asked recently by another virtuoso pianist friend, Yefim Bronfman, to write a work for solo piano. After the passing of 17 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