Title: Flowers greet the maidens with smiles : Finale

Composer:Tong Leung-tak

Year: September 2, 1981

Genre:

• Large ensemble
• Original composition
• Music for mixed orchestra

Call No.: SC396

Description: "Flowers Greet the Maidens with Smiles" is a piece composed by Tong Leung-tak for a mixed orchestra consisting of Chinese and Western instruments. Intended as a closing piece for the Music Office's UK tour in 1981, its orchestration combines Western woodwinds and strings with dizi, sheng, yangqin, pipa, banhu, and a percussion section, although its melodic materials are primarily in the D minor pentatonic mode, a mode that is common in Chinese instrumental music. It begins with a lively, dance-like section in duple meter, wherein the dizi and violin parts involve in a dialogue. It then showcases a contrast through a slower section in triple meter that features frequent melodic interactions among other instruments, before the music ends with a modified version of the first section that concludes the piece in ternary form.

Note:

• Composed for the October 1981 UK tour

Instrumentation: flute (1), clarinet (1), oboe (1), bassoon (1), di (1), sheng (1), yangqin (1), pipa (1), da gu (1), tambourine (1), large cymbals (1), muyu (1), zhonghu/banhu (1), violin (2), viola (1), cello (1), double bass (1)