Performances

• 2023

  The Art of War 3

  Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music

  Calista Liaw, Producer, Erhu; Dedric Wong, Conductor

• 2023 (Premiere)

  The Art of War

  Esplanade Recital Studio

  Calista Liaw, Producer, Erhu; Dedric Wong, Conductor

This piece is the first movement to a set of four pieces composed as part of Calista Liaw's multidisciplinary collaboration titled The Art of War, featuring contemporary Chinese music together with fashion design of a houte conture line. These pieces offer an artistic interpretation to Sun Tzu's The Art of War philosophy, creating an overall trajectory of war rhetoric through each of the movements – Laying Plans, Waging War, Introspection, and March On.

In this first movement, the piece depicts a sombre and contemplative atmosphere, resembling how army generals chart out various plans in a war. When the pipa melody enters, it describes the characteristics of the main protagonist: righteous, brave, and peaceful, and resolves any potential conflict within his governed land. The music weaves in and out of a stable tonality to introduce the villain, depicted using harsh and chromatic harmony derived from altering the pentatonic scale. The middle section then paints the physical picture of the process of war preparation – making tools, soldering iron, and rehearsing drills. The music the slowly evolve into a frenzy where the two sides charge towards the battlefield. Right before the conflict breaks out, there is an eerie peace before the storm.