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Comments from ACO's October 15, 2000 "Pacifica" Concert The season opener of ACO's 2000-2001 season focused on Asian influences in American music. The concert featured three works by immigrant Asian-American composers--Melissa Hui, P.Q. Phan and Chinary Ung--as well as the Piano Concerto by native-born Lou Harrison. For this soundAdvice survey, we asked listeners to pay particular attention to the juxtapositions of "Asian" and "American" sounds, and to describe how they feel each composer's work reflected these influences: "Modern American compositions tend to emphasize percussion and de-emphasize the melodic aspects of the orchestra. Though I listened to the works knowing they were by composers of Asian backgrounds, I could have accepted these compositions as modern treatments by American composers." "Why did all three pieces end with solo violin?" "What is most striking in the pieces presented was the synthesis of "Asian" sounds with "American" sounds. "With tv, radio, movies today, many immigrants experience western music before coming." Some felt that music is universal, transcending boundaries of race, culture, and nationality: "Music is music&ldots; it cannot be categorized. It has a language all its own. The drum beat has its beginning from time immemorial." "Yes, once could detect Asian influences, however, feelings are universal and there was an array of emotions in the pieces." "Music has not nationality, no flags, no politics." Another issue addressed, was whether these composers wrote to distinguish themselves as either Eastern composers or Western composers:  "...One could detect the Asian influence in the composer's music, however, feelings are universal and there was an array of emotions in the pieces." "All reflected mixed usage of Western and Asian influences." "...the works of Hui, Ung, and Phan create some interesting juxtapositions of Eastern and Western themes." Melissa Hui: Common Ground Melissa's Hui's orchestration helped people distinguish the true influeces: "The most 'Asian' in sound, particularly in the unusual scraping percussion sounds." "the opening sounded like a fanfare, but then it gave way to a sweet quiter melodic section which evoked serene Asian landscapes." "Common Ground made so much use of percussion (bells, triangles, drums). Often instruments played in unison within a limited series of pitches." "Towards the end, the strings provided an Asian sound, while the xylophone provided more American-sounding chords. This was an interesting role reversal, as the violin is more traditionally associated with Western music, and percussion with Chinese music." "I think this could have been played without strings, which seemed to coexist but not blend with percussion." "I enjoyed the sharp contrasts between loud demanding percussion and subdued violins." "Very intense music, very good orchestration, structure and interweaving of sounds." "seemed to recall festival music of the lunar new year, as well as military marches." "the most accessible work on the program." Chinary Ung: Inner Voices In Ung's piece people had trouble discerning whether his piece was meant to be more Western or Eastern sounding: "Chinary Ung integrates Eastern and Western ideas so well that it is difficult sometimes to discern the differences." "The composer describes this piece as a colorful patchwork quilt, which is also an accurate description of the USA. Perhaps living in Manhattan taught him how his Eastern and Western musical experiences could live together harmoniously." "I sensed that some interludes made a distinct sonic change from prior sweeping phrases that had a more western symphonic sound. "the most integrated work on the program, but also the least varied." For some, the percussion seemed to evoke the Eastern sounding style of the piece: "The 'Asian' sounds in Ung's work were manifested in the use of gongs, woodblocks, timpani and harp, rather than with traditional Asian instruments." "used lots of percussion to show Asian feeling." "lots of bells, drums, and single pitch instruments. A slow pace, too. Not very much sounded non-Asian to me." "A good piece but not on the level of the Harrison Concerto." P.Q. Phan: When the Worlds Mixed and Times Merged Some audience members heard many Western sounding ideas in Phan's piece, going so far as to hear jazz in the piece: "there were echoes of Sousa marches in Phan's piece." "Phan's work seemed to reflect more "Western" influence than the other two. As if Gershwin had gone to South East Asia." "the opening sounded Asian, but later there were "jazzy" or "big band" effects." Others, heard otherwise: "obvious evocations of Vienamese music." "created some interesting juxtapositions of Eastern and Western themes." "used the violin to integrate the divergent sounds." Some people were thought the piece was too overpowering: "mostly bombastic." "an endless drowning out of all the instruments by overpowering percussion... it was hard to hear the orchestra." Lou Harrison: Piano Concerto Many people had varied feelings as to what they were hearing...Eastern or Western, but all agreed on the excellence of soloist Ursula Oppens: "With its pentatonic melodies, it sounded very Asian. But, the way these melodies developed sounded a little like Copland and a lot like late Romanticism." "The second movement sounds both Asian and jazz-like." "I really enjoyed the Harrison Concerto. Ursula Oppens is a treasure. Sounded mostly Western to me, though."