The composer Lei Liang views music-making as a way to create, evoke, and transform a sense of identity, strengthening connections with home through collaborative research with scientists.
Compositional Technique
For the work 'Hearing Landscapes', specific Chinese painting techniques like sumo (overnight ink) and cun (texturing) were translated into 'sonic brushstrokes' using custom software.
Recording & Production
Both 'Hearing Landscapes' and 'Hearing Icescapes' were created for multichannel surround sound environments, with this recording presented as a binaural rendition.
Composition History
The work 'Hearing Landscapes' was inspired by the landscape paintings of Huang Binhong, a Chinese painter who created the album leaves after going blind in the 1950s.
Compositional Technique
In 'Hearing Landscapes', spectra from X-ray Fluorescence analysis of pigments in Huang Binhong's original painting were transformed into sonic filters, allowing the painting itself to be 'sonified'.
Composer Biography
Lei Liang, a Chinese-born American composer, is a Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of California, San Diego, and has won awards including the Rome Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Composer Lei Liang collaborated with scientists from various fields to reimagine cultural, spiritual, and physical home through sound.
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