Instrumentation: for mixed quintet

B-flat Clarinet/ E-flat Clarinet/ B-flat Bass Clarinet; Horn in F; Violin; Violoncello; Piano

 

作品编制：为混合五重奏而作

bB 调单簧管；bE 调高音单簧管；bB 调低音单簧管; F调圆号;  小提琴; 大提琴​; 钢琴

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Program Listening 作品乐章详细介绍:

I. The Hell Realm 地狱道
II. The Heaven Realm 天堂道
III. The Hungry Ghost Realm 饿鬼道
IV. The Demi-god Realm 阿修罗道
V. The Animal Realm 动物道
VI. The Human Realm 人道
VII. The Way to Liberation 解脱之路

 

Composition Year: 2021

创作年份：2021年

 

Duration: ca.15 minutes

时长：约15分钟

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Winner (1st place) and Special Prize Winner of the World Championship in Composition, Vienna, Austria, January 2021.

作品于2021年1月荣获2021年维也纳世界作曲家比赛冠军。

 

This piece was premiered in Brooklyn, New York City, NY, at Willow Place Auditorium in February.15th, 2023 by S.E.M Ensemble, conducted by Petr Kotik. 作品于2023 年2 月15 日在纽约布鲁克林willow place 礼堂由S.EM 室内乐队首演，由彼得.科蒂克先生指挥。

 

Program Notes:

Buddhist cosmology typically identifies six realms of rebirth and existence: Gods, Demi-Gods, Humans, Animals, Hungry Ghosts and Hells. These six different realms can be divided into two main categories: Three good paths: Heaven Realm, Demi-god
Realm and Human Realm and Three evil paths: Animal Realm, Hungry Ghost Realm and Hell Realm. People's souls are immortal after death and people's souls will be reborn into different realms depending on their good and evil deeds during their lives,
and the story of the six realms is played out again and again.
 

The Heaven Realm: Heavenly people live here, playing and even singing and dancing for the whole day without worrying about food and clothing. However when death comes, they have fearful pain before death.
The Demi-god Realm: This is the world of fighting or strife. The realm or state of mind of violence.
The Human Realm: Suffering from birth, old age, sickness and death. In the world of humans, sometimes we are happy; sometimes we are sad; sometimes we are laughing; sometimes we are crying.
The Animal Realm: Birds and beasts are foolish, often chased, slaughtered, and fearful all day long.
The Hungry Ghost Realm: Live in public toilets and woods' periphery. Their throat is as thin as a pinhole, and they always suffer from hunger and thirst but are unable to eat and drink.
The Hell Realm: Hell refers to the realm of suffering. The state of suffering and pain, which through cause and condition people will enter.
 

Stories of The Six Realms of Samsara is a work for mixed quintet structured in a series of seven miniatures which flow together with minimal pause to form a single 15-minutes trajectory. Each movement has its own emotion and texture. In the first movement, The Hell Realm, I describe the pain, struggle, and hopelessness of hell by
using the extreme ranges of various instruments. In the second movement, The Heaven Realm, I attempt to make dichotomy and different textures and techniques compared to The Hell Realm in order to depict the carefree existence and joy. However, when the time comes, the heavenly beings foresee their own death and the next place of their reincarnation. The heavier color fully expresses the fear of the heavenly beings. The third movement, The Hungry Ghost Realm , describes the painful state of beings in the path of hungry ghosts seeking food every day and night. The multiphonic part of the clarinet highlights their disappointment when they find some water source, which they approach soon, but suddenly the water disappears. The last phrase of the violin solo intensifies the sense of despair. The fourth movement, The Demi-God Realm, describes the scenes of fierce struggle between them every day for power and interests. This movement mainly uses the form of duet and trio to describe the scenes of different forces fighting. When the music reaches its climax, the unison of all the instruments expresses the tragic scene of beings in the Asuras, sacrificing themselves to fight for rewards. With the end of the piano block, the work comes to the fifth movement, The Animal Realm, which expresses the habits of different kinds of animals and the pain the animals suffered. The sixth movement, The Human Realm, describes a person's life experience from childhood to old age. Different harmonies and melody colors represent the pain and happiness we experience at the stages of life. The end of the music expresses people's extreme anxiety and fear when their lives will end....The seventh movement, The Way to Liberation, is the only movement in this piece that does not describe one of the six realms. It expresses that after a person dies, he longs for his soul to be rescued. He fantasizes the scene of being able to follow the Buddha and Bodhisattva to Western Elysium. The color of extreme transparency fully describes that piece of pure land without pain and any evils, and we will receive eternal relief and happiness. Every one of us is desires such a pure land, no longer reincarnation, free from the six realms!

 

作品简介:

佛教宇宙学通常定义人重生和存在的六个领域：天人道、阿修罗道、人道、畜生道、饿鬼道、地狱道。这六个不同的领域可以分为两大类：三善道：天人道、阿修罗道、人道以及三恶道：畜生道、饿鬼道、地狱道。人死后的灵魂是不会熄灭的，灵魂因个人活着的时候的善恶，投生到不同的道中去，周而复始，上演着六道的故事。
 

天道：天人们住在此道，终日游乐，嬉戏，衣食无忧，只是生命也有终了，难逃一死，死前一样有令人畏惧的痛苦。
阿修罗道：有强烈的嫉妒心，终日征战不修。
人道：饱受生老病死之苦，苦乐参半。
畜生道：飞禽走兽，蒙味愚痴，常遭受追逐、宰杀，终日惶恐不安。
饿鬼道：多住于公厕、林边。咽喉细如针孔，饥渴难耐却无法进食。
地狱道：长久处于大火，冰寒当中，极度痛苦与挣扎。
 

作品《六道的故事》为混合五重奏室内乐队而作，作者采用七个不同风格的乐章表达
了六道的场景。第一乐章“地狱道”，作者主要充分的利用了各个乐器的极端音区来描述地狱的痛苦，挣扎，以及没有希望的一种感受。第二乐章“天堂道”作者试图用对比的手法，描绘天道众生的无忧无虑，快乐，和喜悦。但是，当时辰已到，天道众生将会预知自己的死亡以及下一个转世的地方，作者用更加沉重的色彩将天道众生对未知的恐惧进行了表达。第三乐章“饿鬼道”，描写了饿鬼道众生在每日每夜而为食物寻找中，痛苦的状态。单簧管的双音部分突出描写了当他们发现一些水源，即将靠近的时候，水源突然消失，他们无比的失望。最后一句小提琴的独奏更加增强了绝望感。第四乐章“阿修罗道”，描写了他们每天之间互相为了争夺权力，利益，而进行激烈斗争的场面。本乐章主要使用二重奏以及三重奏的形式，描写不同势力争斗的场景。当作品到达最高潮的时候，所有乐器的齐奏表达了阿修罗道众生撕心裂肺，为了争夺利益而牺牲自我的悲壮情景。随着钢琴的音块结尾，作品来到了第五乐章“畜生道”，这个乐章作者尝试性的用不同乐器的音域表达不同种类动物的习性，并且表达了动物所遭遇的痛苦。第六乐章“人道”描写了一个人从小到老的生活经历。不同的和声及旋律色彩代表了我们人生阶段所经历的苦与乐。音乐尾声表达了人在即将病死，老死时极度的不安和恐惧...... 第七乐章“解脱之路”是本首作品唯一一个非六道描写的乐章。作曲家表达了在一个人死后，他渴望自己的灵魂得到救助，他幻想能够跟随佛菩萨往生西方极乐世界的场景。极度透明性的色彩充分的描写了那片没有痛苦，没有罪恶，永久快乐的净土-西方极乐世界。我们每个人都渴望这样一片净土，不再轮回，脱离六道！