Title: Beneath the olive tree

Composer:Guo Hengji

Year: July 1992

Genre:

• Small ensemble
• Original composition
• Chinese plucked string orchestra

Call No.: SC1129

Description: "Beneath the Olive Tree" is a piece for Chinese plucked strings composed by Kwok Hang-kei in 1992. It has a theme on the olive tree, which was first cultivated in Yunnan in the 1960s and later in South and Southwest China more broadly. It is orchestrated for a Chinese plucked-string-only ensemble with cello and double bass parts. It is in the key of G minor but flirts with the G Dorian and Mixolydian modes with its frequently raised thirds and sixths. It begins with a slow and expressive introduction, which features the pipa playing ornamental notes to imitate the sound of a kouxian (jaw harp)-an important instrument in the music of the Yi people in Yunnan, among others. As the ensemble establishes a steady beat, the second section begins with the pipa playing the main theme of the piece. Elaborations on the melody unfold in a rich homophony among the instruments while gradually picking up momentum. The next section starts with a quiet acceleration and soon reaches a lively, festive tempo, switching to triple meter toward the climax of the piece before reprising the main theme (in duple meter) and reaching a calm and tranquil conclusion.

Note:

Instrumentation: yangqin (2), liuqin (1), pipa (1), zhong ruan (1), da ruan (1), sanxian (1), zheng (1), gehu (1), diyin gehu (1)