I. The Fox Who Profited From the Tiger’s Might
II. Master Dongguo and the Wolf
III. The Fight Between the Snipe and the Clam

Commissioned by Music From China, with a grant provided by the Mary Cary Charitable Trust, Chinese Fables is scored for erhu, pipa, cello (or sanxian) and percussion, and was premiered at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York City on 5 October 2002. The performance at the 2014 Warsaw Autumn will be the European premiere of the version for erhu, pipa, sanxian and percussion.
One of my greatest inspirations was when I learnt some of the most popular Chinese fables in my childhood. They are so vivid and humorous, full of imagination, yet so deep and logical in design. I used a mixed Chinese and Western instrumental ensemble, including two bowed and one plucked instrument, plus a percussion group, to narrate three stories in my musical language.
In the first movement, The Fox Who Profited From the Tiger’s Might, I used the erhu and the pipa to represent the flaunting fox who borrows the tiger’s fierceness by walking in the latter’s company, while the cello and the percussion in low register support the image of the tiger. In the second movement, Master Dongguo and the Wolf, I used the cello and the erhu to represent the soft-hearted scholar Dongguo, who narrowly escapes being eaten by a wolf which he helped hide from a hunter. The pipa sounds sometimes charming and sometimes aggressive, representing the cunning and savage wolf.
In the third movement, The Fight Between the Snipe and the Clam, I emphasise high percussion register against a texture made by all other instruments, to depict the grapple scene between the snipe and the clam.
“If it doesn’t rain today or tomorrow,” said the snipe, “there will be a dead clam lying here.”
“If I don’t set you free today or tomorrow,” retorted the clam, “there will be a dead snipe here too.”
As neither would give way, a fisherman came and caught them both...

Yi Chen