Lei Liang

Madrigal Mongolia sprang from a musical and spiritual heritage that has a special place in my heart – the music of Inner Mongolia.

I have loved this music since my childhood. One of my family’s closest friends, the renowned Mongolian scholar Wulalji, visited our home in Beijing frequently. With a sip of alcohol, he would start singing, sometimes continuing late into the night. These personal memories date to the years after the Cultural Revolution, when obnoxiously cheerful propaganda music flooded the airwaves. Yet it was these lonely long songs that evoked in me a deep sense of longing and awakening.

The Mongols were the world’s most feared conquerors, yet the music they sing today is not martial in character. Quite the contrary, they sing of a mother’s devotion, friendship, loss of loved ones, and homeland. Their melancholy sentiments are understandable, for the warriors were always far from home. These songs remind us of what it means to be away.

Aren’t we all living far away from “home” today?

Madrigal Mongolia was commissioned by the Brentano Quartet who worked closely with Professor Chou Wen-chung, who once told me these inspiring words about the cultural heritage of our home: “In calligraphy, every stroke has emotion. Here, lines become waves and textures.” Madrigal Mongolia was written in memory of him.

Madrigal Mongolia was commissioned by the Spiralis Music Trust in honor of Chou Wen-chung, ProtoStar Group, Salt Bay Chamberfest with Richard Replin and Elissa Stein, and Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts for the Brentano Quartet.