Fantasia on the Theme of Plum Blossom by Shih-Hui Chen

Biography

Stacy Maugans, associate professor at Valparaiso University, teaches saxophone, music theory, and humanities. An active recitalist and lecturer on the history of saxophone in Russia and former Soviet Union, she has performed in Russia, Tanzania, Malta, Germany, Slovenia, China, and Thailand. Her teachers include Dr. Eugene Rousseau (Indiana University) and Dr. Joseph Wytko (Arizona State University). She volunteers with her dog as a registered Pet Partner Team.
Joseph Bognar is chair of the Department of Music at Valparaiso University (US) where he teaches piano, harpsichord, and music theory, and where he holds the post of Associate University Organist. He has served on the faculties of the Maud Powell Music Festival, Lutheran Summer Music, and the Stamford International Music Festival.

More information

Fantasia on the Theme of Plum Blossom (2012) Shih-Hui Chen
I. Fantasia (b.1962)
II. Ten Thousand Blooms
III. Plum Blossoms
Professor of composition at Rice University, native of Taiwan, and recipient of the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship in 2007, Shih-Hui Chen is described in a citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters: “Among the composers of Asian descent living in the USA, Shih-Hui Chen is most successful in balancing the very refined spectral traditions of the East with the polyphonic practice of Western art-music. In a seamless narrative, her beautiful music, always highly inventive and expressive, is immediately as appealing as it is demanding and memorable.”
The merging of Eastern and Western ideas is evident in “Fantasia on the Theme of Plum Blossom.” Chen writes

“The musical material of this piece is loosely derived from a popular Nankuan meiody, Plum Blossoms. Nankuan, a traditional style of southern Chinese/Taiwanese music, dates back to the Han Dynasty. This melody serves as a basis for all three movements. In the fantasia-like first movement, the Nankuan melody is first subtly introduced in a fragmented and motivic way. By the end of the movement, a longer continuous melody appears. The second scherzo-like movement takes the faster and active passages from the first movement as a basis for playful and energetic music. The rich and elegant Nankuan melody is most apparent in the lyrical, contrapuntal final movement.”