Description
Book SynopsisWinner of the Leila Webster Memorial Music Awardfor the International Alliance for Women in Music of the 2022 Pauline Alderman Awards for Outstanding Scholarship on Women in Music Chen Yi is the most prominent woman among the renowned group of new wave composers who came to the US from mainland China in the early 1980s. Known for her creative output and a distinctive merging of Chinese and Western influences, Chen built a musical language that references a breathtaking range of sources and crisscrosses geographical and musical borders without eradicating them. Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards provide an accessible guide to the composer's background and her more than 150 works. Extensive interviews with Chen complement in-depth analyses of selected pieces from Chen's solos for Western or Chinese instruments, chamber works, choral and vocal pieces, and compositions scored for wind ensemble, chamber orchestra, or full orchestra. The authors highlight Chen's compositional strategies,
Trade Review"
Chen Yi is a remarkable addition to biographies of living women composers essential for any library's collection. The book's appeal to a variety of readers and its uses from score study to music appreciation present a wealth of musical, cultural, and personal context about the composer's life and artistic voice." --
Music Reference Services Quarterly"The publication of
Chen Yi, an illuminating book by American scholars Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards, is by no means a small accomplishment. . . .
Chen Yi presents a captivating narrative of the composer's career and highlights her unique musical identity through concise and insightful readings of nearly thirty selected works. . . . Miller and Edward's examination of Chen Yi's life journey and compositional strategies is quite informative and revealing, drawing on current scholarship, the authors' own research and analysis, and their own extensive interviews with Chen Yi conducted in 2015 and 2016." --
Notes"Leta E. Miller and J. Michele Edwards's book
Chen Yi is a much-needed study of the composer's music and provides an excellent guide for those interested in programming and engaging in further research on her work." --
Bulletin of the Society for American Music"To say that
Chen Yi is the definitive guide to the life and works of Chen Yi is to say something true but not nearly enough. Not only is it a fascinating and insightful account of the journey of one extraordinary woman composer and her music, but it is also a primer on the history of twentieth-century China, a resource on Chinese music, and a volume to which readers will return again and again for both its utility as a reference book and the pleasure of a good read." --
International Alliance of Women in Music"
Chen Yi is a remarkable addition to biographies of living women composers and is essential to any library's collection. The book's appeal to a variety of readers and its uses from score study to music appreciation present a wealth of musical, cultural, and personal context about the composer's life and artistic voice." --
Music Reference Service Quarterly"An intimate picture of Chen’s life and music. The incredible details, nuanced discussion, and dynamic analyses have made
Chen Yi an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and enthusiasts of contemporary music." --
Kapralova Society Journal“This welcome contribution to UIP’s landmark series chronicles Chen Yi’s inspiring journey from her childhood in Guangzhou and Shimen to her musical studies in Beijing and New York to her position as an internationally renowned composer and educator. A touching portrait of a remarkable person and a worthy guide to her incomparable music.”--Ellie M. Hisama, author of
Gendering Musical Modernism: The Music of Ruth Crawford, Marion Bauer, and Miriam GideonTable of ContentsChapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Biography and Framework
Chapter 3. Compositional Processes
Chapter 4. Solo and Chamber Music Works
Chapter 5. Works for Large Instrumental Ensembles
Chapter 6. Choral and Solo Vocal Works
Chapter 7. Issues
Glossary
List of Works
Notes
References
Index
