Guernica (Traveller Series No. 9)

Composer

HSIEH, Long-Kwang

Work type

Solo Instrumental

Instrumentation

Piano

Year

2012

Duration

10'

Music commentary
In my study, there is a famous painting of Picasso, of course it is only a copy (about 1/11 of the original), I was traveling to Spain in 1990, visited the Prado Museum in Madrid, in its Cason del Buen Petiro (near the museum) I saw it. I was quite shocked at the time. It was not just the oversize of the painting (3.5 meters high and 7.8 meters wide), which took up the entire wall, and the content in the painting was even more touching. The figures and animals in the painting are full of frightened movements and painful expressions. The leftmost side is below the bull's head. It is a woman mourning holding a dead baby. In the middle of the painting is a mourning horse dying, pressed against a dead soldier with a broken sword. A small flower grows on the sword, and a ghost-like head peeks into the scene at the top. The lights seem to symbolize a religious divine light. The painting uses only black and white and gray, showing the sadness of Picassor's heart when painting. 

This piece of music adopts a bow shape, which is divided into five sections A-B-C-B’-A’. Section A is composed of solemn and sad classical contraposition. Section B begins with a Spanish-inspired tune and gradually transforms into a 12-tone non-tonal tune and harmony, symbolizing the abstract style slowly approaching Picassor's paintings. Section C uses the central C as the center, gradually spreading out the description of the tragedy of the aircraft bombing, which is the climax of the whole song. It consists of a violent sound pile, which symbolizes the bombing of the aircraft, mixed with frightened wailing and the scene of escape. In the B’ segment, it is a sad lament. The rhythm pattern of the B segment spreads throughout the entire segment, but it appears as a 12-tone non-tonal sequence. After heavy mourning, approach the A’ section of piety and prayer style. At this time I used the 16th-century Spanish major composer Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) mass "O Magnium Mysterium", taking the first part of Kirie as the main body, ending in the solemn and quiet chant Full song.
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