Sansori

For Flute, Harp, and String Quartet

Program Notes

Written for Katie Althen, Emily Levin, Jeramias Sergiani-Valasquez, George Meyer, Jacob Shack, and Mitch Lyon reading at CIMF .

Sansori (산소리) was inspired by my discoveries of the musical world of Gugak (국악), or traditional Kore folk music. Over the course of the past year, I reconnected with my Korean heritage through my music. Sansori is my first attempt at interpreting the musical traditions of Korean culture, rather than using extra-musical Korean inspirations like literature or history. As I spent hours combing through the National Gugak Center's an Sejong Cultural Society's websites - containing a wealth of informationon traditional Korean folk music - my mind kept darting toward two particular forms: Pansori (판소리) and daegum (대금) soli . Pansori are traditionally performed with one lyrical singer and one drummer, and an intrinsic virtue of the form is that the lyricist always prioritizes their emotional resonance over ‘hitting the note’. This raw emotionality, combined with a soul-searching ryhthm, made for a very transporting sound, one that I wanted to explore more through acomposition. The daegeum, or bamboo flute, soli behaved very similarly, often evoking a deep but etherial strain that emphasized the emotional aspects of the music. To immerse myself in the music, I transcribed the song "Chung sung-gok" (청성곡) to standard notation.

But my inspiration for this piece in particular came when stumbling across a video of a Pansori lyricist practicing alone under a waterfall. The water trickling from the cliffside acted as a natural percussion to the woman’s expressive songs, all accompanied by beautiful scenery. And with the woman's declamatory ballades, I often heard parallels in the sound of the daegum, or bamboo flute; both are performed with emphasis on passion rather than technique, and both commonly utilize a fluttery and pentatonic language. Combined with the glistening harp, and the warmth of a string quartet, I used this intimate ensemble as a vehicle for the sound -the sound of a woman practicing Pansori alone under a waterfall.

Now, a little about the name 'Sansori'; as a little extra nod, 'Sansori' is a play on ‘Pansori’, but still retains its own meaning. ‘San’ (산) in Korean translates to 'mountain', and ‘Sori’ (소리) means 'sound', making 'mountain sound'; a Pansori reflecting the sound of the mountains. I hope listening to Sansori transports you to that scene, of that woman singing under the cliffside water, and inspires you to embrace the music of your culture. The best music always dervies from within.

Duration: c.a. 6:00’ - 6:15’

Premiere: New World Center (January 2023), Nu Deco Ensemble, Miami, FL

Written: April 2022 - July 2022

Score with C-flute exclusively (without Alto flute double) is available upon request.