The Title “Rain Concerto” does not means the genre of this piece, but rather the rain sound as its most important texture. Continuing with the inspiration from rain sound, some of the ideas, colors, and textures of Rain Concerto come from my chamber piece Clouds and a Raindrop. Rain sound can be represented in a significantly wide range of expressions from very soft to extremely strong. In some regions, rain is an important part of human life because it sounds constantly and endlessly. In my Rain Concerto, this kind of “grainy” sound is almost everywhere in different versions, as well as different expressions. In the soft parts, I used harp, celesta, and piano, and in the strong sections, woodwind instruments and strings are the interpreters.
Ligeti’s orchestra piece had significantly influenced me when I composing Rain Concerto, especially his Atmosphères and Melodien. In Atmosphères, the colors and textural sound are the most important components. While I am using harmonic colors as a background, combined with grainy sounds in different representations to describe various scenes of rain, the idea of gradually dropping from the very top register with microtonal accompaniment derives from Melodien.
The overall style of Rain Concerto is similar to Clouds and A Raindrop. According to these two pieces, I am attempting to explore my own musical language, texture, and structure. The materials that I used are very limited, but my goal is to exploit them deeply.
Sample Score of Rain Concerto: