Comments on “Tsao Shu”
“Everything preceding the concerto underscored the fine Juilliard ensemble’s sheer versatility. Another premiere, “Tsao Shu” by Jing Jing Luo, suspended stark, deliberate daubs, fidgets and jolts against copious silence…”
— Steven Smith, The New York Times, September 25, 2011
“Plenty of Artistic Pressure for a Saxophone Student”
New York Times – Global Edition – Music
Comments on “Wind” string quartet
“…Asian composers have different reflexes, and perhaps because they are closer to the meditative tradition our minimalists emulate…Our jaded senses boggle at the hypnotic power of Buddhist rites, which over there are no more mysterious than Baptist Sunday school…after the reflection it seemed natural that for string quartet of Jing Jing Luo’s ‘Wind’; The imaginative texture of Jing jing Luo’s Autumn Sounds stemmed from odd devices such as echoing single notes between the flute and soprano tone…Certainly the music was pervaded by a strong Chinese flavor, but unlike that of so many white musicians moving in the opposite direction, it was never superficially exotic.“
— Kyle Gann, Village Voice
‘Jing jing Luo is a young and gifted composer, educated from Shanghai and Beijing, she was a prodigy on the piano and in her early years wrote adept orchestral works in an advanced tonal dramatic style. Her piano concerto is a virtuosic display of mighty impressionism. Her ‘Dunhuang Poems for piano solo captures the sense of mystery and drama in the famous cave site in the Gobi desert where ancient Buddhist texts were rediscovered. A recent work ‘Cicada Slough’ combines the ancient Gu Qin (the seven string lute) with a percussion and atonal brass ensemble in a touching the exuberant sound portrait of this insect’s transformation, a poetic allusion to metamorphosis.’
— Ear Magazine of New Music
Reviews for “The Spell”
‘Jing Jing Luo’s The Spell, utilized bold instrumentation, such as bass clarinet, timpani and harsh pizzicato on two cellos. It was propulsive and dynamic, but the destination for all its energy was not clear.’
— Peter Burwasser, The Philadelphia Inquirer
‘The Spell by Jing Jing Luo casts a suitable spell with aggressive low piccolo, plucked celli strings, and throbbing vibraphone that leaves tones ringing in the air long after intoned, and with shivering strings creating a scene-setting spell. A quiet celli duet and flute/piccolo duet softens the effect. Sounds imitate eastern instruments and let us know we are not in Philadelphia any more.
— Deborah Kravetz, Sequenza 21 / The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly
The Walter Hinrichsen Award for “The Spell”… ‘Jing Jing Luo cherishes her rich Chinese musical heritage and has combined it with many years of work in the United Stated. The happy results are scores that demonstrate effective expressively, a fascinating mixture of sources, and exciting virtuosity. She has become an international composer, refining her special language with each new score…
— The American Academy of Arts and Letters
Reviews for “Mosquito”
‘Mosquito’ won the price in 1993 Internationale Komponistinnen Competition in Unna, Germany. The work has been performed more than 14 times at different music festivals in the past ten years. It is on CRI and New World Records.
‘Jing jing Luo’s Mosquito’ sounds like the insect, whose brief life and violent end are fascinatingly portrayed in the piece.’
— Mike Greenberg, San Antonio Express-News
Review for “Dun Huang Poems”
‘The composer is among the first generation of avant-garde composers who emerged in the early 80s when China began opening up. She uses contemporary technique ad concepts to muse over the remote past and then depict the results of her wealth of reflections….’
— Hong Kong Arts Festival
Reviews for “An Haun, a Chinese Requiem”
‘…Jing jing Luo’s Chinese requiem, this remarkable work finds a bridge between Chinese musical gestures and styles and Western means of performance, except for the words An Huan (comfort dead soul). The work is strong, with many moods, and compellingly shaped. The piece poses tremendous challenges for the chorus; at times there are almost as many parts as there were singers….’
— John Duffy, Star Tribune, Minnesota
‘…Jing Jing dedicated this work to all victims of Chinese political persecution, including her father, who died in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution, as well as her cousin, who was shot at Tiananmen Square in June, 1989. …. She knows of what she speaks, like the composer, her score is an intensely emotional creation.’
— The Dale Warland Singers
Reviews for “The Slough”
The work was premiered by the Women’s Philharmonic under the baton of Maestro Apo Hsu in 2000; then the work won the Third Prize at the 10th New Music Festival in Winnipeg, Canada by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro. Tovey in 2001; the further performances includes the Cleveland Chamber Symphony and the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra and the China National Symphony Orchestra.
‘….Chinese-American composer Jing Jing Luo’s The Slough showed a confident handling of colour, its Chinese tang spiced with glissandi, bet notes and touches of the pentatonic…’
— James Manishen, Winnipeg Free Press
‘The Slough by Jing Jing Luo, the most dramatic work…Luo’s The Slough is a compelling and kinetic work… her most exceptional technique in Slough is the use of pizzicato chords in which the individually plucked pitches are changed during their brief duration…’
‘She begins with a clearly occidental musical framework, but then gradually disassembles from that context certain elements that can later fit back into traditional Chinese musical practice…this procedure allows her to create a combination of Western and Chinese elements that is more just a superficial blending or juxtaposition of style…’
‘Admirable too was Luo’s strength in sustaining a climax for an exquisitely long duration, far beyond the point when the listener would begin to look for relief from the intensity…’
— Joseph Bloom, Symphony Review, San Francisco/Classical/Voice
Jing Jing Luo’s music is distributed and published by C.F. Peters., China Central Publishing Co., New World Records.