After listening to each piece of the China Festival at Carnegie Hall, I came to the conclusion that the first composition was my favorite. The pianist was not only skilled but visually seemed to be in deep concentration resulting from the object of his affection: the musical keys.  At first, the music by the composer Chen Qigang began with a slow tempo. It then moved onto a very quick, almost violent and eerie beat. Occasionally, the pianists would apparently bang the keys and then juxtapose such aggression with a smooth rising of tempos. The combination of the two alluded to the background music of cartoons. I made the connection of a music that would represent a cat chasing a mouse, in a sense like Tom & Jerry. This comparison derived from the fact that the tunes became louder and less classical in their essence, more closely related to climactic notes.  Such climatic tunes represented impending danger. Lastly, this composition in its final seconds had soft beats amidst moments of silence. Such melody reminded me of a broken heart, loneliness and despair. It seemed like the perfect music for a mourning moment in a film. All in all, I felt this composition portrayed admirable qualities as a result of its contrasting beats, its high and lows, and its varying meanings.

The second performance composed by ChenYi Qi was my next favorite because I discovered the melody of the cello. I absolutely adored its deep tones, for they seemed so pensive. The musical piece in general began with a sort of saltshaker “cha-cha” sound. Then the cello took its role as a deep melody and together with the flute the sounds alluded to increasing steps. As they grew louder they mimicked the sounds of screeching birds. And then there would be a big bang.  I noticed that the flute gave an old medieval time feeling since I associated it with a castle. The piece finished with the musicians dwindling down to a halt until even their bodies stopped moving and the audience was left in complete darkness. I thought such technique was quite unique and added to the overall wilderness effect.