Trace
(2021) | 12 minutes
Adapted by Simon Holoweiko and Zhou Tian from Trace for orchestra
LEVEL Grade 6
SCORING Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, Clarinet in E♭, 4 Clarinets (B♭), Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, Contrabassoon, 2 Alto Saxophones (E♭), Tenor Saxophone (B♭), Baritone Saxophone (E♭), 3 Trumpets (C), 4 French Horns (F), 2 Trombones, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, Double Bass, Harp, Piano and Celesta (1 player), Timpani, Percussion (4 players):
1: Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Triangle
2: Marimba (5-octave), Crotale (bowed)
3: Snare Drum, Cymbals (suspended, crash), Whip
4: Bass Drum, Tam-tam
PREMIERE 24 September 2021 at Cobb Great Hall at Wharton Center for Performing Arts, East Lansing, MI., by Michigan State University Wind Symphony conducted by Kevin Sedatole
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Programme Note
Trace tells a musical story of a vanishing past as a result of industrialization. The piece opens with a brisk and light introduction, unveiling many of its foundational elements. It then delves into a palette of orchestral colors and timbre, spanning from purity to darkness, and from epic to intimate moments. After reaching a climactic point, the work closes with an airy coda, which grows more and more distant measure by measure, until it vanishes with a sigh.
“Trace” was originally commissioned and premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. My sincere appreciation goes to Simon Holoweiko, who initiated this project with an excellent transcription. I made further arrangements and composed new materials for the current version.
©Zhou Tian
Reviews (orchestral version):
“It made for one of the most creative – and most enjoyable – concerts heard at Music Hall this season. Zhou’s [Trace], a CSO commission, opened the concert on a lush, neo-impressionistic note. The work recalls a vanished China, one replaced by industrialization. Concertmaster Timothy Lees was the soloist, giving the work its heart in two aria-like episodes…A playful, folk-like tune inserted toward the end sealed it with nostalgia. Zhou, 30, was present to receive the crowd’s warm applause.”
—The Cincinnati Enquirer
“The night’s opener was more absorbing and substantial than any overture you could name. ‘Trace,’ by MSU faculty composer Zhou Tian, was a dense, multilayered tapestry of memories and images meant to evoke ancient places and ways of life bulldozed under China’s relentless industrialization…A kaleidoscopic series of carnival outbursts and dance patterns suggested a limitless mosaic of life. The orchestra negotiated a complicated series of twists, turns and shifts in mood with a quiet grace that gave Zhou’s vibrant style an amber glow. Fleeting episodes featured an intricate battery of percussion and a butterfly cloud of woodwinds that flickered distinctly and memorably, despite the bigger forces surging around them.”
—Lansing CityPulse
Related Works
- Trace (for orchestra)