Fantasy for Flute and Piano (after the Chinese folk tale "The Magic Whip") 

Notes
“The Magic Whip” is an ancient Chinese folktale that tells the story of a farmer’s daughter who confronts a powerful emperor whose intention is to destroy the South China Sea by filling it up with rocks from the mountains. The emperor steals a magic whip (made of hair from a mysterious old woman.) The whip has the power to move even a mountain with the slightest tug. The farmer’s daughter tricks the emperor and reclaims the magic whip. Shamed and disgraced, and powerless to destroy the land without the magic whip, the emperor returns to his palace. The kingdom and sea are spared from such evil intentions. The mountains have not moved for centuries, and it is unlikely that they will move for centuries to come. Fantasy for Flute and Piano follows the narrative of the folktale. The flute expresses the daughter’s emotional connection to the land and sea. The accompaniment portrays the story of the powerful magic whip. The Chinese flutes played by Ying Zhang in the premiere of the orchestra piece:
QUDI – a transverse flute made of bamboo
HULUSI – a vertical gourd free-reed flute normally with one or two drone pipes
XUN – a clay globular flute
BAWU – a transverse free-reed flute