Jig Fantasy (2019)
for String Orchestra

Commissioned by Camerata Youth String Orchestra

World Premiere:
August 31, 2018
Break Through – Camerata Youth String Orchestra Annual Concert
Experimental Theatre, Cultural Centre, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tony Li-Tung Tsao conducts Camerata Youth String Orchestra

Duration: 8 minutes

Program Notes

Jig Fantasy for string orchestra is composed at the request of conductor Tony Li-Tung Tsao and Camerata Youth String Orchestra, who will perform the piece in their fourth annual concert at the University of Malaya in 2019. In organizing this concert, Gustav Holst’s St Paul’s Suite is included, and my original idea of this commissioned piece is to compose a companion piece to this suite. The first movement of St Paul’s Suite is titled “Jig”, which is a traditional dance of Great Britain and Ireland. I am applying this Jig rhythmic pattern as an ostinato for the entire piece, while giving broken segments and irregular melodies in this energetic momentum. Basically, this piece is a binary form: the first part is straight forward with the circle-fifth rapid changing in a fast dancing rhythm, and the second part presents a sharp contrast as it begins with a slow tempo and gradually returns to the fast one with a vigorous ending. Originally, Holst’s “Jig” movement is in a very British style; however, in my Jig Fantasy, the Jig rhythm is only for the unchanging ostinato with lots of less British materials, which are my own musical language. While composing this piece, I found the combination, or the creation of my own musical language, turns out to be very interesting.

為絃樂團的《吉格幻想曲》是指揮家曹立東與 Camerata Youth String Orchestra 的委託創作，會在他們2019年第四屆的年度音樂會中，在馬來亞大學首演。在這場音樂會，霍斯特的《聖保羅組曲》也在演出曲目當中，這首曲子的發想就是試著譜寫出能夠和這首組曲一起搭配演出的作品。《聖保羅組曲》第一樂章的標題是〈吉格〉，是一個英國和愛爾蘭的傳統舞蹈。這個吉格節奏也是做為一個從頭到尾在這個曲子裡都存在的頑固低音，建構在這個充滿活力的節奏上，則有一些破碎或是不規則的旋律片段同時進行著。基本上，這個曲子是一個兩段體曲式，第一部分直接馳騁在快節奏的速度上，和聲上則有著五度圈循環的迅速變化，第二部份開始在一個對比的緩慢速度，逐漸慢慢地回到快速度，以一個有力量的強烈節奏結束整個作品。原本霍斯特〈吉格〉樂章是充滿著英倫風格，然後在我的《吉格幻想曲》中，這個吉格節奏只是做為自始至終都存在的頑固低音，當加入我的音樂語言之後，它就變得不那麼英國。我發現這個作曲過程中，在這種發想的思考中植入我自己的音樂語言之後，得出來的結果是有趣而令人意外的。

– Feng-Hsu Lee (August 29, 2019 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)