The Five Changes (Wu Hsing or Wu Xing) are the five material elements of the traditional Chinese Daoist world, and the transformations that turn each into the other through natural processes over time. Traditionally Metal comes first, which produces water which produces wood. Wood creates fire which finally produces earth. Earth once again produces metal and the cycle continues.
In the form of this piece, water forms the first, self-contained section. In the next section wood emerges and leads in an enormous crescendo to fire. The third section is a slow movement of drums representing earth which leads into the fourth section highlighting metal. This forms the climax and the coming together of all previous themes and motives, before receding into a short recapitulation of the water section.
The percussion soloist is surrounded by the 5-6 section players of a standard wind ensemble, who play the same sets of instruments as the soloist, moving about and taking turns as the soloist features different instrumental groups.
In a perfect world, this piece would utilize colored lighting to highlight the percussion:
Water: darkness gradually becoming white
Wood: Green
Fire: Red
Earth: Yellow
Metal: White, fading to black at the very end
DURATION: About 18 minutes
Here is a link to a video of a performance with soloist Miho Takekawa.