Le Train (2023) - Movements 1 & 4 - OSCAR PAN

Le Train (2023)
(Los Angeles premiere)
Movements 1 & 4
Composed by Oscar Pan
Performed by:
Rachel Mellis, flute
Claire Brazeau, oboe
Micah Wright, clarinet
Nic Gerpe, piano
Program Notes:
OSCAR PAN: Le Train
Le Train was written to be premiered
by the Exponential Ensemble at the
Mostly Modern Festival in June 2022.
The piece draws inspiration from
the fantastic train featured in The
Polar Express, one of the composer’s
favorite Christmas movies from
his childhood. After a semester of
studies in Paris with Michel Merlet
in 2019, the composer immersed
himself in French contemporary
classical music, exploring ideas
such as 12-tone techniques, set
theory, and serialism. Under
these influences, the composer
discovered a new sound palette
and composed this piece to honor
his growth as a composer in Paris. In Le Train, the composer introduces
thematic material for the piano
and flute, developing through
techniques like repetition, inversion,
and dislocation throughout the
piece. Additionally, the composer
frequently incorporates intense
striking sounds of the piano
with woodwinds to recreate the
sensation of a train wreck.
Composer Bio:
OSCAR PAN is an LA-based
composer for the screen and concert
stage and a pianist. Being a travel
enthusiast and arts fanatic, he is
always drawn to cross-cultural
collaborations and new sounds that
speak to our living world. His recent
works include the score to Sonnet
Crown for NYC, a poetic documentary
commissioned by and screened
at The Shed in New York City; the
score to Motherland, a Chinese
drama short nominated for Best
Short Live Action Score at Hollywood
Music in Media Awards; the
score to I Am Illegal, a Moroccan
LGBTQ documentary short premiered
at the 2023 Outfest LA Film
Festival; and Le Train, a quartet for
woodwinds and piano that received
Merit Award in Tribeca New Music’s
2021 Young Composer Competition.
Oscar earned his bachelor’s in Music
Composition with a specialization
in Screen Scoring from New York
University in 2021, and his master’s
in Music Composition for the Screen
from Columbia College Chicago in
2023.