Gao Shan Liu Shui (High Mountain Flowing Water) is a new musical interpretation of an ancient Chinese tale. It tells the story of a guqin (stringed instrument) master who makes an annual trip to play for his most ardent fan, a humble woodcutter. When the musician discovers his friend dead he smashes his guqin and breaks its strings, never to play again.
Chinese master musicians Wu Na (guqin) and Dong Fei (Kunqu opera) join with NZ-Chinese composer and pianist Gao Ping, designer Jon He and director Sara Brodie, for a unique NZ-Chinese collaboration.
Renee Liang spoke with composer Gao Ping at the Nelson Arts Festival.
Why did you choose to write music as your career?
I started learning piano at 6 and started improvising and making my own music at 9. It was a natural progression for me. The creative excitement of composing, and improvising for that matter, is at first fascinating and addictive. Gradually, it has also evolved into a way to realize my ideals, a way to live even.
Tell me about your early training in music.
Learning piano, entering a middle school for talented youth. I grew up in a musical family, surrounded by music.
Why did you choose to come to NZ?
In 2002, I was invited to a concert tour in NZ initiated and organized by Jack Body, of whom I had been an admirer long before that. I fell in love with NZ. In 2004, I applied for a position at the Canterbury University and was hired eventually.
Is it possible to write music without referring to personal values?
I think, at least speaking from my personal experience, it is not possible to write music that has no connection with one's thoughts and judgements. The absence of personal value in a work can be also revealing, if there is such a thing.
What's your favourite instrument and why?
I like many instruments, from many different cultures, for different reasons.
Tell me about your relationship with the guqin.
I started listening to Gu Qin music very intensely about six years ago. It was a revelation to me on many levels. Purely aurally, I was drawn to it by the richness that stemmed from such sparse music. The way that sense of space and silence is engaged, like that of Liu Bai (leaving blank) in Chinese art; The constantly varying timbre of any given musical gesture;the expressiveness of one single sound and its extended sonorities...
And I am fascinated by its notation which indicates specific playing instructions rather than notes and rhythms, while giving very precise method for physical approach which result in specific sound production, it leaves the formation of phrasing, rhythm and tempo to the decision of the performer. These are a few things among the many things that I am fascinated by Gu Qin.
How long have you known the story that you base Gao Shan Liu Shui on? Why were you drawn to it?
I have known it for many years and always wanted to do something musical with it. What the story resonates with me, aside from the moving aspect of loyalty and friendship, is that of the powerful art of listening, and the much lost intimacy of the relationship between the creator of music and his/ her audience.
Tell me about your collaboration with NZ director Sara Brodie.
Sara is so experienced and hard working. I think her involvement is crucial for the piece as a theatre piece rather than a purely musical work. Her sensitivity in realizing in terms of theatre and staging what I and Wu Na are producing musically made the show a unified whole.
What would you like audiences to take away from the experience?
A beautiful moving experience, but also a reflective one that allows further contemplation on music, on listening, on friendship and finally life in general.