Les Soliloques by Rongrong Chen

Les Soliloques is a set of soliloquies. It is dedicated to Kaiyuan Wu, Bowen Liu, and Jinzhao Xu, aka The Oak Trio. Different from solo pieces, all three of the players are present on the stage, and each of them tells their own story while the other two silent players are involved. The three movements are called Le Soliloque Marron, Le Soliloque Violet, and Le Soliloque Noir. The movements were named with colors according to Chen’s impression of the instruments. Violin is maroon, Cello is purple, and Piano is black. Each movement is based on one principle: Marron plays with modality and modulates through the piece. Violet focuses on open strings and harmonics. Noir is gestural, and it explores the wide range of the piano. This piece was inspired by Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Its influence is most obvious in Noir with the octatonic scales.