Programme Note

Commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra on the occasion of the orchestra’s centennial, “First Sight” was inspired by the folk dancers of the Dai people in China’s Yunnan province. To capture the raw and mesmerizing movements of the folk dancers, the music rises and falls through groovy rhythms and ever-changing intervals of seconds and thirds—almost sounding improvisatory, yet in its core, it is clear and precise. The slower dance in the middle of the piece is calm and lyrical, as if clearing the stage in the morning in anticipation for a new night of musical venture.

The score calls for piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, clarinet in E-flat, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, percussion (3 players: xylophone, crash and suspended cymbals, Chinese cymbal, tamtam, chimes, snare drum, bass drum), harp, piano, and strings.

—Zhou Tian