Blues n’Grooves

Instrumentation: Erhu and Piano/ Violin and Piano/ Erhu and Orchestra
Duration: 4 minutes
Year: 2014

Audio

Performed by Nicole Li and Corey Hamm

Program Notes

I was approached by Corey Hamm in April of 2013 to write an Erhu and Piano piece for his Piano and Erhu project. Along with my piece, he commissioned several short works for this project from several Canadian and Chinese composers to be performed in UBC and subsequently toured in China. I thought this would be a great opportunity to write something short and snazzy as a kind of encore piece for his project, thus showcasing the virtuosic abilities of Corey and Nicole.

The piece itself is in a simple double binary form. Section A is a lyrical introduction, with the erhu singing a bluesy melody while the piano quietly accompanies. This transitions into the Vivace section, with syncopated rhythms and a driving pulse.

The work is available for streaming and purchase at Redshift Records.

Reviews

Fanfare Magazine – Raymond Tuttle
“Blues n’ Grooves is just that – a soulful and funky bit of absolute music by composer Roydon Tse.”

Fanfare Magazine- Lynn Bayley
“…although the first two works on this CD [PEP Vol .1] were written by a Canadian composer (Scott Godin) and a composer from Hong Kong (Roydon Tse), it is the former that sounds more Asian in musical concept and the latter that sounds more Western, specifically kind of a rock and blues sort of style, and interestingly it suits the erhu very well.”

The WholeNote – Andrew Timar
“The repertoire on the album all dates from within the last few years. It explores a wide stylistic range, from the alternately sassy, sizzling Blues ’n Grooves (2014) composed by University of Toronto composition student Roydon Tse…a feast for Li’s expressive mastery in the erhu’s upper range.”