Tune-Up! Notes on the Music

Iran, which was called Persia in ancient times, was one of the countries linked by The Silk Road to cultures both to the east and to the west. Richard Danielpour comes from Iranian heritage, so when he received a commission from The Silk Road Project to write a cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma to play, it was natural for him to plan parts for traditional Persian instruments. He decided to base his work upon the relationship between the modern cello and one of its ancient Persian ancestors, the kamancheh. This instrument is shaped something like a lute and is played from a kneeling position. It is also called a spike fiddle, because it rests on a spindle or spike.

The basis of this one-movement, 25-minute piece is a set of four chant dialogues between the cello, onstage, and the kamancheh, which will be played from the balcony. "The whole point of the piece," says Mr. Danielpour, "is the ultimate reconciliation of these two primal forces, the old and the new, embodied in the cultural and the generational." Other interesting Persian instruments to watch and listen for will be the santur, which is a sort of hammer dulcimer; a tabla, a cylindrical drum; and a dombak, a drum that is shaped something like a goblet.

Blue as the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur is based on one of the primary modes in Persian classical music, Chahargah. Its intent is to capture the essence of the centered tonality existing in Eastern music and employs mostly texture and a simple harmony to enhance the strong melody line. By combining four Persian instruments, kamancheh (spiked fiddle), santur (hammered dulcimer), nay (reed flute) and Indian tabla (percussion) and a sextet of Western string instruments, the piece tries to weave together Eastern and Western classical music while telling a story about ancient civilizations and how they intertwine and contribute to each other.

The instruments, coming from two different musical cultures with different ways of expression, compliment each other in their own language - a centered and rich melody line from Eastern music, harmony and texture from Western music. Neyshabur, located in Khorasan, in Eastern Iran, was one of the most important cultural centers of Central Asia and an important city on the Silk Road. Although I was born in Iran, Neyshabur has always been an exotic place in my mind.

The birth place of Feriddoddin Attar, Omar Khayyam and Abu Saeed Abulkhayer - some of the greatest minds of philosophy, poetry and Persian Sufism - who have enriched and sculpted the roots of ancient Persian culture. I have dreamt of Neyshabur during the time of the Silk Road: the life, the cultures, the colors, and the smells. How a caravan reaching Neyshabur at dusk sees the city and hears the sounds as it is coming from far away. - Kayhan Kalhor

Yo-Yo Ma has referred to the Silk Road as "the Internet of antiquity." This is because it served as an information link among so many different regions and cultures. It went on for hundreds of years, starting as early as 100 B.C., during China's Han Dynasty.

The people of China, Japan, and India knew how to produce silk, and they learned that silk was highly prized in the countries of the Middle East and the Roman Empire. So they sent traders along a route more than 7,000 miles long, starting near the modern Chinese coastal city of Xi'an and ending up in Eastern Mediterranean cities like Alexandria, Damascus, and Antioch.

The people of the Roman Empire, in turn, traded gold, precious jewels, wool, medicines, and other things to the people of the Far East. Not just goods traveled along the Silk Road. Ideas traveled, too. People tried tasting new foods and new spices from other countries. They tried doing things the way they were done in the cities they visited. People along the route learned the Chinese crafts of paper making and block printing.

They also learned the formula for producing gunpowder, and the art of making porcelain. And they tried playing each other's musical instruments, and learning to make similar instruments themselves. Some of the instruments played along the Silk Road included the Arab oud, an ancient type of lute; the Chinese erhu, or alto fiddle; the Indian sarangi, a short-necked fiddle; the Japanese biwa, a pear-shaped lute; and the Chinese gong.