The Ju Percussion Group has been dedicated to commissioning composition works every year since its establishment of the group, boasting the modern voices in the music field in Taiwan. With the Ju Percussion Group heading into its 34th year, it has commissioned 232 works. Through a series of concerts featuring new pieces as always, the group starts the season with “Sound Ideas” this year as the title to bring a whole new music world like the budding in spring. The founder of Ju Percussion Group, Ju Tzong-Ching stated that it is difficult to promote the events featuring the newly commissioned compositions, and the group is under high pressure, “But it is our responsibility, it is an inescapable duty”.

 

In the three seasonal major events held annually, the Ju Percussion Group starts their first season of 2019 with the “Sound Ideas” concert which is the final chapter in a three-year “Cross-Generation Commissioned Works Trilogy” that started in 2017, featuring composers of the old, middle-aged and new generations. The concert “Sound Ideas” featured three brand-new commissioned works from Taiwan’s rising star composers Hung-Ping Chang, Wen-Chi Tsai, Yun-Tien Tsai, accompanied by four rigorously selected creative pieces from the new generation of Taiwanese composers: Kuang-Yun Liu, Tsu-Yao Yang, Ying-Chieh Wang, and Wan-Yu Chang. The first chapter concert in 2017 was titled “Our Percussion Music” which paid tributes to Taiwan’s grandmasters. The concert featured two classic repertoires composed by two deceased established Taiwanese composers Lee Tai Hsiang(1941-2014), Ma Shui-Long(1939-2015), and debuted five commissioned works from the esteemed composers, including De-He Lai(1943-), the winner of the14th National Award for Arts in the music category, and Nan-Chang Chien(1948-), the winner of the 9th National Award for Arts in the music category. 


In "Sound Ideas", three composers for the three commissioned works unanimously all sought out inspiration from oriental traditional culture. Hung-Ping Chang used the element of “water” in her work “The Mountain”, incorporating the essence of “leaving blank” and “air” of calligraphy and traditional landscape painting to portray the spirits and insight of mountains through the percussion music. The piece brings the audience to feel the majesty and strength of mountains in the silent steadiness, and it also brings the audience to listen to the clearness and serenity of mountains in the echoing vibrations. Through this composition work, Hung-Ping Chang stated that she hopes to represent the reflection and inheritance between the ancient and modern ages, presenting unique aesthetics of eastern culture.