A single seed carries the hope of firmly securing the world's livelihood. Mr. Yuan Longping dedicated his entire life to tilling the fields, all for the purpose of firmly holding the livelihood of global people in their own hands. In commemoration of this eminent agricultural scientist, the composition One Seed Changes the World came into being.

Composed for two bamboo flutes and the Chinese traditional orchestra, this composition takes unique musical elements from Chinese national minorities, such as Miao and Dong tribes, and folk tunes of Yuan River, all highly characteristic of the Huaihua region. It utilizes Mr. Yuan Longping's life achievements as the creative thread, gradually presenting the musical ideas from calm to dynamic and from the surface to the depths in a progressive manner. The composition is primarily divided into three sections: the depiction of the arduous trials endured by scientists under the scorching sun, stepping through muddy fields, and undergoing repeated experiments at the Anjiang Agricultural School's experimental fields in Huaihua; the diligent labor of those who honorably toiled through hardships to achieve success, contributing to the difficult task and eventual triumph; and the joy of bountiful harvests after successful experimental cultivation.

The composition primarily extols Mr. Yuan Longping's sense of responsibility to the world, his dedication to the service of global people, a lifetime of labor in the fields, and the lofty example of placing scientific achievements on the land. It praises Mr. Yuan Longping's love for the people, his enduring spirit of ceaseless struggle. It commends Mr. Yuan Longping’s noble qualities of firm conviction, unwavering determination, fearless innovation, and unadorned humility.

稻花飘香One Seed Changes the World - for Two Bamboo Flutes and Chinese National Traditional Orchestra (2023)

The work is premiered as the central piece of "One Seed Changes the World" the Original National Concert Series at Beijing Concert Hall on Sep. 4th, 2023, with performance by bamboo flutists Yuan Feifan, Zhang Kaiqiang, and China National Traditional Orchestra, under the baton of Wang Fujian.

Phantaasmal - a Rhapsody for String Quartet (2021)

Phantasmal, completed in March 2021, is a rhapsody for String Quartet. All musical elements gradually evolve from their simplest form over time. The pitch content is fostered from a single pitch, E. The rhythm and the pulse are created by weaving the thoroughly organized accents on a large scale together with irregular meters. That in turn generates another layer of motivic motion that outshines the pitch material during the fast section. While the texture develops from homophony to polyphony, the music slowly expands its lower range using instruments like the Viola and the Violoncello. They would start to play materials corresponding to the Violin. The entire piece is about surprise, disturbance, and contrast. Just like at mm.40 where the tempo suddenly switches to 44 in a regular meter of 4/4. After a short passage of rubato-like section with emphasis on pitch materials, irregularity and accented rhythmic motion reoccurs at the lowest register. Progressively, those contrasted musical ideas would smoothly forge together at the latter part of the piece thus pushing music into its most sophisticated portion. At that portion, all four instruments bring the original theme back in a canon-like manner. The music would then end unexpectedly, creating a sense of tension and dissatisfaction to the audience. Further emphasizing the idea of disruption that functions as a cornerstone of the whole composition.

This piece has won the Second Prize from 2022 MaestrosVision Awards and the Honorable Mention from 2022 The ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award. It was performed and recorded by JACK Quartet at Oktaven Studio NY, US in 2021. Its score is published by Universal Edition.

Tempestuous Flow - for Piano Solo (2020)

Based on the inspiration of Ravel‘s Le Tombeau de Couperin, Tempestuous Flow is a companion work to the Prélude in Ravel’s piano suite. As a composition for “Ravel Reimagined Project” between the University of Missouri-Kansas City Composition and Piano departments, Liu Yizhang explored new development possibilities of pre-existing materials by adopting Ravel’s repeated motion in the background as the main motivic element in this piano work, revealing Liu Yizhang’s admiration to Ravel.

This piece has won the Winning Prize from 2021 RMN Classical Call for Piano Works, the Second Prize from 2022 Golden Key Composition Competition, and Second Prize from 2022 MaestrosVision Awards. It also participated in the Asian Classical Music Initiative 2022 Inaugural International Conference. Its recording will be published by RMN Music and added to the Sound and Music Archive of the British Library. It was performed by Indonesian pianist Valerie Wellington at White Hall, Kansas City, American pianist Stephen Eckert at the 2021 soundSCAPE festival, and American-based Asian pianist PeiYao Yu at the University of Kansas, USA, 2022.

念桥边 Tales of Yangzhou - for solo Violin (2019)

Based on an ancient Chinese poem The Yangzhou Adagio, Tale of Yangzhou is inspired by the brilliance of Jiang Kui, a poet who weaves grandiose spirit and sorrowful emotions in the poem. The poem tells of a great misery in Yangzhou city after an invasion by the Jin dynasty, and of the poet’s deep anguish and patriotism.

Composed in 2019, Tale of Yangzhou is a blend of ancient Chinese tones found in Song Dynasty (AD.1127-1279) and modern composition techniques. It retells an ancient story in neoteric style through a violin.

This piece won the Honorable Mention in 2019 Lin Yao Ji International Competition for Solo Violin Composition in Chinese Style; Performed and recorded by violinist Li Siyi in Beijing, China, 2019, Germany-based Chinese violinist Zhang Yaojin at Lübeck, Germany, 2021, and United-based Asian violinist Dr. Xenia Deviatkina-Loh at the University of Kansas, USA, 2022; It also participated in the Asian Classical Music Initiative 2022 Inaugural International Conference and the Melody of Yangtze River: 2020 World Famous Music Institution Exchange Performance Season.

十二支 The Twelve Earthly Branches - for solo Saxophone (2019)

In Ancient China, people have developed a unique system of time-telling, named the 12 Earthly Branches. The 24-hour clock is divided into 12 equal intervals, spanning 2 hours each. Each of this span is then called an Earthly Branch. Each of the 12 Earthly Branches is christened with its own name, an epithet describing the ethos of that time. For example, 寅时 is used for hours 0300-0500. The word carries a meaning that is similar to the first onset of light glowing in between night and dusk, a fitting description for the time. This system also harbors deeper philosophical implications, symbolizing the myriad cycles that collectively makes up this universe, each unfurling at its own rhythm. Life, sea currents, seasons – there is a predetermined order to their rise and fall.

The music contains 12 sections, each representing an Earthly Branch. Every section exhibits a musical condition or vibe corresponding to the meaning of its respective Earthly Branch. Collectively they portray the essence of a cycle described earlier – one amongst many, in a constant state of flux. The first 5 sections are presented here.

This piece was selected on the 2019 Sao Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival program; Performed and recorded by saxophonist Laurent Estoppey at Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2019 and Don-Paul Kahl at Kansas City, USA in 2022.

Piano Prelude (2018)

Debussy’s piano prelude no.6, Des pas sur la neige, is an elegant, delicate, small master piece for solo piano. The motivic development and the colorful harmonic progression exhibit a vivid snow scenery. While this Piano Prelude, inspired by Des pas sur la neige, adopted musical materials from Debussy’s music, my primary goal is to keep the similar feeling from Des pas sur la neige to my music. Imitating Debussy’s musical language and compose another impressionism music work in twenty-first century is what I tried to avoid. In March 2019, as the 101th year of Debussy’s death, there will be no any better way to honor Debussy than composing a new piece based on his music.

This piece was performed by Sarka Stehnova in Kansas City, Missouri.

Musical Prose - for String Quartet (2019)

Music,whose medium is sound, is perceived through the proceed of time. From the very beginning of the existence of music, musical development is a essential part for people to understand music. Prose, on the other hand, is a form in language exhibits a natural flow of speech.

This piece was composed to blend those two ideas. It is the outcome when music develops in a natural way and when prose becomes a form exhibiting flow of music. Starting monophonically from a single layer theme in the middle register, music gradually unfolds with new timbres, fresh motives, and a wider range.

This piece was performed on 2019 Atlantic Music Festival in Waterville, Maine.