music

Shuang Xu is a Chinese composer, physicist and engineer. His portfolio consists of more than 30 works of a variety of genres, among which are three piano concertos, two string quartets and a quintet for Asian instruments. Born in Nanjing, China, Xu took an unusual path in musical education. Beginning with piano playing around the age of fourteen, he delved straight into the analysis of contemporary music and compositional theory before studying music history and composition by himself. For ten years in higher education institutions pursuing a degree in physical science, Xu was heavily engaged in musical activities at the same time. As a pianist, he was a keen advocator of contemporary music and performed a lot of new music including his own in his undergraduate school in China. Little known as a composer, nonetheless, he has received several private commissions, and his works have been performed in China, USA, France, and Austria.

Xu’s music style spans over a broad spectrum, and his work often exhibits modern techniques applied to conventional sound materials. A notable aspect in his output is that many of his compositions are rooted in nature in a unique way owing to his specialty in physics. He has observed that many natural processes, viewed at a fundamental, physical level, bear remarkable resemblance to the composers’ methods of organizing, processing and developing musical materials, sometimes termed as “musical logic” in music theory (Taylor, 1974; Ries, 2000). With such realization, he has attempted at musicalizing natural phenomena by mapping the underlying physical concepts to compositional techniques, resulting in a kind of nature-inspired music that is not, in the conventional sense, an emotional expression invoked by nature, but rather a musical organism following certain patterns originated in nature. The highlights in this category include Schrödinger’s Violin, Fractals, Silica, Basis Transformation and Phase Transition, all of which are musical representations of the title. Xu has gone even further and borrowed concepts in subjects besides science. For example, in his string quartet Satin,the four instruments are orchestrated to knit a certain musical texture, and in Ballade, the music materials role-play as different social classes in a setting of ancient China.

In addition to music, Xu enjoys molecules and mountains. He holds a Ph. D. in chemical physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. He is currently living in San Diego, California.

The following is a list of my selected compositions.
You may now listen to my music with the score on my Youtube channel.
Score and parts may be available upon request if not posted here.
BTW, they are all FREE, and I do take commissions.

Orchestral (+solo)

Symphony No. 1 “Quantum Mechanics” (2008-), for orchestra, unfinished 

Chamber

Suddenly, when autumn comes… (2011), for chamber orchestra

Solo instrument

Moto perpetuo (2009), for violin

Vocal