Four Winds is my first piece for solo flute. I wanted to explore the different possibilities that the flute’s timbres and textures afforded by utilizing extreme jumps between registers, multiphony, microtones, and sliding tones.
Given that I grew up training as a traditional Chinese instrumental performer on the guzheng (Chinese zither), I was also interested to see how I could bring elements of this tradition to this piece. As a result, the listener may notice elements such as imitation of the dizi (Chinese bamboo flute) and free phrasing and breathing – an attempt to bridge the differences between these cousins from two very different parts of the world.
website: jingzhoucomposer.com
Email address: zjcomposer@gmail.com
Notes by Jing Zhou
