Zhōng

Zhōng seeks to highlight the viola in the form of a Capriccio, linked to that of Henri Vieuxtemps. It takes up the idea of the arpeggio at the beginning of Vieuxtemps’s Capriccio but in reverse, as if to give a “mirror version” of it.
Zhōng means “middle” in Chinese, and is part of the appellation of the viola as an instrument “of the middle”. This ideogram is made up of four strokes, either horizontal or vertical, drawn in a precise order. The musical work follows this order of construction, defining a parallel between stroke and sound. Between each stroke, a transition section is exposed, enabling a more natural transition from one element to the next, and recalling the idea of “milieu” as a constituent of the form itself.
Two musical elements complement each other: one exposed at the beginning, highly harmonic, and the other more melodic, found entirely towards the end, in the imaginary style of a traditional Chinese song.
This piece, which gives the impression of a great improvisation, attempts to show different facets of the instrument, between multiple sonorities, virtuoso technique and expressiveness.