Poem Dusk von Shen Ye und sein Einzelklang-Prinzip

The clarinet quintet Poem Dusk by Shen Ye is a good example of how a contemporary Chinese composer today deals with his own and Western musical culture. Shen uses the single sound technique, which was developed from the analysis of Shen’s daughter in her pre-linguistic phase. Although it takes a literary inspiration from Chinese poets, the composer moves away from art form or ideology, takes up the object itself. Haizi’s poem is also the case: back to existence and life itself. The tension and the aesthetic appeal of this piece can therefore be understood by the listener without knowledge of modern Chinese poetry. But the more common ground there is in cultural knowledge, the more thought connections can be drawn from the listener’s subconscious. In order to increase and strengthen such thought connections, the exchange between cultures must be supported.