Dun: Water Concerto - DVD

ENGLISH

Dun: Water Concerto (OA1014D) (2007)<br /> <br /> David Cossin (Water Percussion); Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra; Tan Dun<br /> <br /> Tan Dun’s hypnotic three-movement Water Concerto is intoxicating, both visually and aurally. Using water as a musical instrument, this extraordinary piece uses innovative techniques to explore the musicality of the sounds of water. Virtuoso percussionist and soloist David Cossin displays remarkable genius as he deftly creates unique, sensuous, organic and sometimes celestial sounds using a range of water-based instruments. Conducted by the composer, the distinctive accompaniment of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, reflecting Dun’s personal combination of Chinese and Western musical traditions, is carefully interwoven and combined with the water percussion to<br /> produce a uniquely enchanting performance.<br /> <br /> "‘This work was one of the most astonishing pieces of music that I’ve ever heard." (The Australian)<br /> <br /> "This could be interpreted as nonsense by the close-minded, but the sheer commitment of Cossin and the orchestra make for a completely convincing performance. The repertoire of water sounds employed expands with each movement. The second movement comes from a very similar sound-world to Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet, incorporating whole-tone folk melodies with Chinese inflections, with falling slides in the woodwind at the end of phrases. The final movement takes on a minimalist approach, with fragments of the folk-song of the previous movement and the wailing of the first movement returning in cycles. Each repetition brings in a different gesture from the orchestra to provide a backdrop to the two percussionists beating hollow plastic tubes with table tennis beaters whilst pulling the tubes in and out of the water...A fantastic performance of a piece of music that is as much about watching the physical gestures as absorbing the sounds.<br /> <br /> " (Musicweb International)<br /> <br /> "Organic music concerns both matters of everyday life and matters of the heart. These ideas find their origin in the animistic notion that material objects have spirits residing in them, an idea ever-present in the old village where I grew up in China. Paper can talk to the violin, the violin to water. Water can communicate with trees, and trees with the moon, and so on. In other words, every little thing in the totality of things, the entire universe, has a life and a soul." (Tan Dun)