Patrick Yim - Gobi Canticle (CD)

Gobi Canticle brings together eleven works for solo violin, violin and viola, and violin duo by ten composers of Asian heritage, many presented here in first recordings. Performed by Natalie Lin Douglas and Patrick Yim, longstanding advocates for new music with extensive experience commissioning, premiering, and recording contemporary repertoire, the album spans a wide expressive range from ritual and folk-derived sound worlds to contrapuntal studies and contemporary virtuosity. At it's centre is Lei Liang's Gobi Canticle, shaped by Mongolian musical traditions, microtonal inflection, and percussive string techniques. Zhou Tian's Duo provides a compact, high-energy showpiece, while Chen Yi's Energetic Duo distils rhythmic drive and color into a striking miniature. Several works draw on literary and seasonal imagery: Kai-Young Chan's Echoes of the Autumn Night reflects Tang-dynasty poetry through Cantonese speech rhythms, and Jungyoon Wie's Dan Poong traces the quiet transformation of autumn leaves. Across the program, composers engage imaginatively with string technique-scordatura, harmonics, ricochet bowing, hocketing, and microtonal tuning-creating a palette that is both refined and immediate. The result is a coherent collection that highlights individual compositional voices while revealing shared concerns with timbre, gesture, and cultural memory. Recorded in Watertown, Massachusetts, Gobi Canticle documents a significant body of contemporary duo repertoire and showcases two performers deeply committed to new music and collaboration.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Lei Liang: Gobi Canticle
2. Zhou Tian: Duo
3. Chen Yi: Energetic Duo
4. Kai-Young Chan: Echoes of the Autumn Night
5. Yao Chen: Four Mini Duets: Chinese Dolls
6. Texu Kim: Homage to Anonymous Ancient Fiddlers
7. Meilina Tsui: Etude for Violin and Viola
8. Clarence Mak: The Approach of the Day
9. Lei Liang: Lakescape III
10. Doming Lam: Retrograde
11. Jungyoon Wie: Dan Poong (Autumn Leaves)