Violin Concerto: Rhapsody and Fantasia

Composer: DUN, Tan

Quick Facts

  • A 2-movement piece for violin and orchestra:
    1. Rock the Violin in Rhapsody
    2. A Dream Out of Peking Opera
  • Revised in 20181
    • The piece was originally written and performed in 2009 with violinist Cho-Liang Lin and the Julliard Orchestra.

About the Piece

  • According to the composer, the piece “reflects early memories of my youth, but through the lens of my current musical soundscape.”
    • “Peking opera and Shakespeare both say very similar things but in very different times. Both speak of life as theatre and theatre as life.”
  • The two movements of the violin concerto grew from an ancient Peking opera melody.2

Sources

  1. “Violin Concerto: Rhapsody and Fantasia (2018),” Wise Music Classical, accessed May 17, 2023, https://www.wisemusicclassical.com/work/58846/Violin-Concerto-Rhapsody-and-Fantasia–Tan-Dun/.
  2. Lars Petter Hagen, Notes in accompanying booklet, Tan Dun: Fire Ritual – Violin Concertos performed by Eldbjørg Hemsing and the Oslo Philharmonic conducted by Tan Dun, BIS 2406, 2018, compact disc.

Cut IDs

22887