the orient
a reacquisition of a fantasy
for solo piano
Purchase the orient full score HERE.
Read about the orient in The Reader HERE.
Video premiere in I Care If You Listen HERE.
Year: 2023
Length: 40 minutes
written for premiere at Constellation Chicago, April 30th, 2023, in partnership with Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago
Movements:
I. Opening (like you're high on opium)
II. Assimilation (like you're trying to regain what's lost)
III. Sunrise (like you're building a railroad)
IV. Vincent (like you got chased down with a baseball bat)
V. Closing (like you refuse to be finished)
Excerpt from Program Notes:
The entire work is built off of the pitch content of the “Asian riff,” popular in video games, movies, and commercial music since the 1800s. It has been used to refer to Asia, and in particular, East Asia, from the outside perspective of the West. The musical theme is only 3 notes, derived from the five-note pentatonic scale. The rhythm is square and clunky, with sixteenth notes, predictably followed by eighth notes. The theme often used to refer to martial art, and other stereotypically Asian things, is a mocking reduction of a continent's worth of culture.
Shi-An Costello is a BMI composer. All rights reserved.
© 2023
Performance History:
April 30th, 2023: Constellation Chicago (Shi-An Costello, piano)
Aug 6th, 2023: ACM Thirsty Ears Festival Mainstage (Shi-An)
Oct 8th, 2023: Music For Food at Minnekirken (Shi-An)
Dec 12, 2023: I Care If You Listen exclusive Video Premiere (Shi-An)
Jan 8, 2024: Chatham Hall, Virginia (Shi-An)