The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 19th, 2001
Silence, nuanced touch help music speak
By TOM STRINI
Journal Sentinel music critic
Monday, November 19, 2001
The spectral mystery of Qu Xiaosong's "Ji No. 4 KOU" came into the world Sunday at St. Paul's Episcopal Church at Present Music's annual Thanksgiving concert.
Ji, in Chinese, means silence. There is a great deal of it in this 10-minute septet. In the outer sections of the A-B-A form, the sounds that separate the silences are almost all gossamer -- feathery harmonics from the strings, a cymbal gently stroked with a bass bow, whispered Chinese words.
The conditions were not ideal b...
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