Chen Yi studied composition at China’s Central Conservatory of Music and had lessons with Alexander Goehr, who was a visiting professor. Her composition Sound of the Five has the distinctive sounds of Chinese instruments but filtered through a Western post-tonal sensibility and scored for string quartet and additional cello. The other works on this CD also feature strings, percussion, flute and piano.

Chen Yi (b. 1953) is part of a distinguished cohort of Chinese composers who have immigrated to the United States over the past several decades.

One is struck in Chen Yi's music by the vibrancy and importance of tremolos, pitch inflections and articulations, while concurrently realizing that they are always in the service of the music, not there merely as "effects." Her music stands at the intersection of Eastern and Western musical culture, drawing on the history and music of her native China to create new works that are beautiful, evocative and highly crafted. The theme of cultural integration informs all her work and expands the definition of what we call "American" music.