The problem with being Chinese and being a classical composer is that everyone singles you out as a "Chinese classical composer," as though that is in itself exceptional. Perhaps so in the United States, but not in China, which has a longstanding history of classical concert music generally not well understood by most Americans.
Kui Dong as of this writing is an under-40-something classical composer who teaches at Dartmouth University and sometimes participates in free improvisation groups as a pianist. Pangu's Song is the first full-length CD of her music, containing the multi-movement piano piece Earth, Water, Wood, Metal, Fire, the title work for flute and percussion, Blue Melody for a chamber ensemble of Western instruments, Three Voices for Chinese instruments, and the electronic piece Crossing.
Dong does not sound like a "university composer" and appears to avoid formalized procedures. There are musical gestures throughout Pangu's Song that occasionally remind one of
Cowell,
Debussy,
Prokofiev,
Stravinsky, and others, but they are not put together in a frame that seems "typical." Rather these appear as references within a texture that is wholly an original conception, comparable to
Charles Ives' quotations of hymn tunes and rags.
Dong is striking out on her own bold and innovative path, and her music has a strongly intuitive and improvisational feeling, yet it is not "downtown" either.
Dong's music includes ideas one would usually associate with free jazz and avant-garde post-modern pop, but retains the inexorability that is indigenous to Western classical music. The more contemporary-sounding effects do not jump out and say, "Look how cool I am!" Instead, these elements clearly belong to the established texture.
Dong's sense of timing and use of negative space also helps make these combinations of elements more credible, and the result is the product of natural impulses that are not specifically "Chinese" so much as they are "musical."
Three Voices has properties of mystery and a delicate sweetness that immediately draws one in, otherwise Pangu's Song is not "easy listening." Nevertheless, it does offer rewards with patience and repeated hearings. Pangu's Song is strongly recommended, particularly to listeners with adventurous tastes and an interest in truly vital contemporary music.