Title: The azaleas on Jing Gang Mountain

Composer:Tong Leung-tak

Year: [1979]

Genre:

• Large ensemble
• Arrangement
• Chinese orchestral music

Call No.: SC366

Description: "The Azaleas on Jing Gang Mountain" is a modern Chinese orchestral piece composed by Tong Leung-tak. Like other songs and instrumental pieces of similar titles, this piece pays tribute to the Jinggang mountains as the birthplace of the Chinese Red Army. With the dual symbolism of Jinggangshan and blossoming azaleas (n.b., azalea has been an official symbol of Jingganshan since the mid twentieth century), the piece's allusion to China's revolutionary history is unmistakable. It is possible, though uncertain for the present purpose, that the piece is an adaptation of a folk song from Jiangxi Province, where the Jinggang Mountains are located. The music is stylistically similar to the modern classic guzheng piece Jinggangshan shang taiyang hong ("The Red Sun Over the Jinggang Mountains") composed by Zhao Manqin in the 1970s. Spanning only fifty-four measures, it is in the ternary form with a fast, martial, and largely pentatonic main melody. The instrumental parts currently catalogued in the archive of the Music Office suggest that the piece calls for instruments typical of the modern Chinese orchestra, albeit without percussion instruments.

Note:

• Orchestral arrangement of "The azaleas on Jing Gang Mountain"

Instrumentation: di (1), sheng (2), haidi (1), liuqin (1), pipa (1), zhong ruan (1), da ruan (1), erhu (1), zhonghu (1), cello (1)