Introduction to Piano Concerto The Wilderness

Composed in 2014 at the age of 17, Yuanfan Yang’s first piano concerto is based on a famous drama The Wilderness by the late world-renowned playwright Cao Yu. It consists of three movements:

The first movement (04:01) – ‘Vengeful Return’

The first movement (04:01), ‘Vengeful Return’, presents the protagonist Chouhu’s sneaking back with hatred to his hometown by train after escaping from prison. He encounters other main characters. The scenery of the country village is striking in the autumn. Showing personified melodic features in characterisation, the music has dual character of realism and symbolism.

The second movement (14:30) – ‘Rekindled Love Flame’

The second movement (14:30), ‘Rekindled Love Flame’, shows the love of the hero and heroine from their reunion. The music represents their sentimental memories, joyfulness of reunion, intertwined love and hatred, grievance towards the reality, and aspiration for the future. The movement has adopted the romantic style of music, soothing and lyrical.

The third movement (23:10) – ‘Revenge and Escape’

The third movement (23:10), ‘Revenge and Escape’, presents the complex mental state and feelings shown by the hero and heroine. After killing the heroine’s husband Daxing, the hero Chouhu is full of fear and hallucinations. The two principal characters flee into the forest. With varieties of musical features, this movement accentuates the two principal characters’ panic, frustration, sadness, nervousness, especially the hero’s despair and death. Train sound symbolises the heroine’s possible success in making getaway. The ending is thus intended to create transitory brightness and high-spirits, so as to bless her to reach the gold-paved place that she longed for with the hero. Improvised encore is on a theme given by the audience (34:06).

In 2017 this concerto won the China National Arts Fund, and with its support, the work was performed for two tours in China in 2018-2019. This video is a live performance in the Beijing Forbidden City Concert Hall held on 24th August 2019.