Notes From a Curious Listener

Chinary Ung received one of five commissions from the La Jolla Music Society this year. Commissioning music is expensive, about $1000 per minute; so my curiousity was piqued. Who are these composers, and why do they deserve a coveted commission? 

The first article about Ung that popped up in my google search had a list of awards and compositions far longer than I am willing to subject my gentle readers to. Take it from me, we can be proud that he is one of our own - a professor at UCSD.   

When talking to Ung, I sensed the kindness in his answers,  along with regret that people are focused on material things that don't matter. As a survivor of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, he knows a thing or two about that.

Malaysiancomposers.com did an interesting interview with Ung which reveals his thinking and composing. enotes.com describes his amazing history. Here are some samples of Ung's work that you can hear. I generally kept my interview to lighter subjects including some advice for newly married Orion Weiss!

Here, Ung gives some tips on enjoying new music:

Don't expect the routine... each new piece can be quite different. Read between the lines or ‘notes' especially when dealing with a piece of music that has clearly originated from a culture other than the west.

Sometimes eastern music is difficult for me. Do you have any suggestions for me to overcome that? Is it like coffee, an acquired taste? 

Not at all. If a piece of music doesn't touch you... that is what it might be and it's not always your fault. Try it one more time or just stay away for good.

Read on for the entire interview.

I found a video of you and your wife talking to school children about music. In that interview, you said that the musician "can actually add another angle to be part of the composer's idea". You were specifically talking about a piece you had written with improvisation in mind.  Do you feel that way about all of your compositions?

The context here might be a little different... perhaps what I said over a decade ago might still be true on one ground: a true spirit of a performer in the context of my native Cambodian traditional music is actually a performer/composer. Yes, I perhaps referred to Khse Boun- the viola version specifically- in the introductory passage. On the contrary, I tend to notate everything in great detail-So "improv" is not my field altogether, especially when the piece of music is already notated.

Do you give guidance to the musicians playing your compositions or do you let them interpret it on their own?

BOTH. I also very much enjoy when musicians can come up with their own interpretation.

Who has played your work especially wonderfully? Who has not done so well?

There are only a handful of instrumentalists who actually can play and sing at the same time. I suspect that this craft will have its own take in the next decade or so.

You are playing the new composition with your wife, Susan, at SummerFest. Please tell us about your family life here in San Diego.

Susan and I had lived in sin for a long time until we decided to get married in 1984. Kalean, our eldest daughter, is a wonderful singer and is now a grad student at Cal Arts. Sonika plays violin and is a senior at Chapman University majoring in Psychology.

Susan, my wife, has been a champion of my music for the past decades.

You have been married to a musician for a long time. Do you have any advice for Orion Weiss, pianist who recently married another pianist, Anna Polonsky?

My advice for them has nothing to do with having a common career. When one person in the marriage is in a state of anger and fire, really stormy, the other one must be water, not gasoline, and vice versa.
 
How has the change in the business of music, such as downloading of free music, changed what you do?  Is it good or bad for you? Is it good or bad for classical music? Is it good for Cambodian musicians and people?

The real issue, for this generation and the next, might have something to do with the intangible cultural elements and this is the one that humans, as creatures, need to work on.

Curious Listener Note: Ung went on to say that he appreciates the benefits of the internet and being able to look up information; but we have to strive for the intangible. "Can you download love?" he asks. As an example, he prefers to do research by living with people in a village rather than reading about them on the internet.

What kind of music do you listen to in your spare time?

When I am composing on a deadline, I do not listen to much music because inspiration must come from inside. It is very bad if you have a deadline and you are listening to others' music.

Curious Listener Note:  Chinary Ung and the other composers will be talking about composition at the Encounter on Thursday, August 19th at 12:30. Usually you can ask questions and meet them afterwards. It is free to the public. You can hear Ung's piece performed Friday, Aug 20th.