Wu Xing, written between 1998 and 1999, is a five-movement suite, portraying the five traditional Chinese elements: water, wood, fire, earth and metal.
"When I first wrote Wu Xing, the piece was not well received, since the melodies were not smooth and not considered beautiful in a traditional way," says Chen. "But, over the course of the last 20 years, a growing number of people have developed a liking for it and it's beyond my expectation."
The violin concerto, La joie de la Souffrance, was written in 2017, and Chen added color with a percussion section. Maxim Vengerov played the solo part and the violinist premiered the work along with China Philharmonic under the baton of Yu during the 20th Beijing Music Festival.
The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra also knows the violin concerto very well since it was a test piece for the 2018 Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition and was played by the six finalists, accompanied by the Orchestra.
"The relationship between a composer and his music is like that of a biological father and his children. For the interpreters, like the conductors and symphony orchestras, they are like the 'foster parents' of the work," says Chen. "As the 'biological father', I can do nothing about my work after I finished writing it, but Yu has his own understanding of my music, which sometimes surprises me."
