Program Notes

This piece is a duet for classical guitars that depicts a rainy scene at the Cijin Harbor in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The music begins with a motif of staccato 8th notes representing rain drops. As the music develops, the increasing density of the motif notes imitates the increasing rainfall. The second guitar mainly carries out the rhythm of the rain. The entire piece evinces a style of minimalist improvisation, which paints an incidental picture of rainfall at the harbor. In the end, the music returns to the starting motives with the rain diminishing and eventually fading away.

This piece is from the “Kaohsiung Four Tunes” suite, composed by Ssu-Yu Huang with a commission from guitarist Seiko Tsai. The music depicts the sceneries around the city of Kaohsiung including Chengcing Lake, Love River, Sizih Bay, and Lakeshore Lovers (guitar solo), 2) Sparkling River (guitar solo), 3) Sunset on the Beach (guitar and cello), and 4) Rainfall at the Harbor (guitar duet).