Taishin Bank Foundation for Arts and Culture

Comments on the Finalist

The Song of Soul concert begins with Vox Naturae to elicit a response from the audience and make them look forward to the rest of the concert. HUNG Chung-Kun, a mid-generation Taiwan composer, has gone outside the box of traditional aesthetics and completely overturned existing concepts of performance techniques, harmony, rhythm, timbre, etc. After much research and extraction of ideas, Hung has given his orchestra new sounds and expanded the meaning of music for the average person. Through this short ten minute musical score, Hung has boldly proposed an entirely new interpretation for the various possibilities that come from the word “music.”    Committee member:LEE Chiu-Mei

National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is a confident elite arts group with cultural awareness. Under the leadership of current Musical Director LU Shao-Chia, they are not only dedicated to classics, but also contemporary works. They have been devoted to the creation and recording of symphonies in Taiwan. For their 2012/2013 season, NSO presents the Kaleidoscopic France series that will be opened by Vox Naturae, the new work of HUNG Chung-Kun.

Artwork Introduction

In a December 8, 2012 concert in the Kaleidoscopic France series Song of Soul, the National Symphony Orchestra under Maestro LÜ Shao-Chia performed three works, opening with the world premiere of mid-career Taiwanese composer HUNG Chung-Kun’s brilliant depiction of the boundless variations in sound, Vox Naturae.

Vox Naturae was originally created as part of a larger project for voice and orchestra titled Vox (Latin for “voice”). In the treatise On the Emotionlessness of Music, ancient Chinese literati and musician Xi Kang writes, “The function of airflow through the mouth cavity in voice generation is not unlike that through the wind instrument in tone production.” Chuang-tzu furthers this idea of airflow, distinguishing three categories of voice, or lai, which generate three corresponding basic mediums through airflow: renlai (vox humana), dilai (vox terra), and tianlai (vox celeste). Inspired by such ideas, Vox attempts to integrate the three categories of lai, envisioning how they can interact with and respond to one another. Vox Naturae—being one part of Vox with no vocal element—although depicts only voices from the natural world, aims to create as manifold varieties of sound as in the natural world with the exuberant orchestral forces.

Searching for Sounds that Transcends Cultural Barriers

HUNG commented that composing techniques and theories all came from the west; hence cultural identity becomes a common question facing eastern composers under an overall western framework. Hung has purposefully incorporated Asian elements into his pieces, but deep down he is contemplating whether he can find sounds that transcend cultural barriers, sounds that people can appreciate without any cultural knowledge. Much like the poems of Chinese poet BAI Ju-Yi, in the end, Hung finds his answers in nature.

Vox Naturae means the voice of nature in Latin. Originally, it was part of his string and vocal piece Vox. The piece was inspired by LAO Zi who believed that it is the flow of Chi within a body which results in resonance, and since there is Chi in the world, the world can also be considered a sound aerophone. ZHUANG Zi took the notion further and distinguished three sounds of nature: sound of man, sound of earth and sound of heaven.

Vox intended to bring those three sounds into the piece, and Vox Naturae is where the sounds of earth and heaven and their indefinite variations are musically expressed. "Sounds like this will be comprehended by all, as people understand the sounds of wind and rain, as they are part of the common experiences of man that transcends cultural barriers."

To Challenge and Overthrow Western Musical Civilization

HUNG also tried to overthrow western musical civilization with symphonies. To challenge the western musical aesthetics that has been around for centuries, he used large amount of sounds and noises and asked the musicians to play in unconventional ways.

For example, HUNG took the flutes apart and added toy nozzles so that the flutes would produce unrecognizable sounds. There are also instruments built out of empty milk bottles. Besides, he purposefully mistuned the harps and had the musicians draw the bows on the bodies or the bridges of the instruments instead of the strings. The abnormal hiss is the exact desired effect, and the effect is ever more amazing when produced by a whole orchestra.

"There are many props required by this piece. I had to write notes for each of them, down on the scores," said Hung. The unpredictability also made rehearsals difficult, in which members needed to be coached step by step, in order for HUNG to have his vision come true. "I am very grateful to NSO. They learnt the piece in such a short amount of time. I find them amazing."

Musicians need a stage, and so do composers. As wonderful as a piece may be, if it's not performed, it will never been known by the world. NSO will continue to provide opportunities for Taiwanese composers to be heard.

About the Artist

With more than 20 years of commitment and dedication, the National Symphony Orchestra has continually strived to innovate and open the field to develop as a leading professional orchestra. From symphonic works and chamber music to opera, the current 96 members give about 70 performances each season. Renowned conductor Lü Shao-Chia joined as its 5th music director in August 2010 to lead what is widely regarded as one of the best orchestras in Asia.

Production Team

Conductor: LU Shao-Chia

Composer: CHUNG Kun-Hung

Soprano: Grace LIN

Bass-baritone: TSAI Wen-Hao

Taipei Philharmonic Chorus

National Symphony Orchestra (NSO)