October Rain by Mo Zhao

By Mo Zhao

Duration: 8 minutes
Grade Level: 5

October Rain aims to use a mostly Western musical language to paint an autumnal scene that I consider to be Chinese at its core. It explores different moods of a solitary narrator after witnessing a storm.

This piece is partially inspired by the Song Dynasty Chinese poet Su Shi’s poem “Ding Feng Bo” (定风波.) After the narrator has weathered a storm while barely covered by thin cape, he writes,

“A thorny spring breeze sobers up the spirit,
I feel a slight chill,
The setting sun over the mountain offers greetings still.
Looking back over the bleak passage survived,
my return,
shall not be affected by windswept rain or shine.”

October Rain is commissioned by Emily Potter.

Mo Zhao
2017