ABSTRACT
Echoes from the Gorge is one of the finest pieces of percussion music of the twentieth century constructed upon a modal system in rhythmic terms that is largely influenced by Chou Wen-chung’s study of Chinese aesthetics, Taoist philosophy, the I-Ching, and the different modal systems in the world. It mirrors the cosmetology of the I-Ching, which maintains that change is continuous and inevitable – simple, easy change one step at a time. It is as organic as it is holistic – the part is the whole, the whole is the part, as illustrated in this analysis of the piece.
