“Mongolian Folk-Tune Variations for solo piano was composed in the spring of 1980 when Zhou Long was a student at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. The theme is based on an andante Mongolian lovesong. After its initial statement, there are eight variations and a coda. They traverse contrasting styles, keys, speeds, figurations, and durations, expressing various musical emotions. Beginning with Variation 3, each mood is indicated with a traditional Western musical direction: 3 – Vivace; 4 – Accelerando; 5 – Adagio, sombre; 6 – Scherzando; 7 – Allegretto moderato. Variation 8 is the finale—Allegretto, fermamente; and the Coda is marked Andante, tranquillo. In 2010, thirty years after it was composed, Oxford University Press published the piece. This [Susan Chan’s album Echoes of China] is its world premiere recording.”
– Zhou Long’s program note1
Sources
- Liner notes to Echoes of China: Contemporary Piano Music, Susan Chan, Naxos 8.570616, CD, 2015.
Cut IDs
30193