limited compositional mode

According to 孙凰, the composer formulates this scale based on Olivier Messiaen’s limited compositional scale/ mode. Messiaen was fascinated by scales that only had a few transpositions. For example: the whole tone scale which has 2 transpositions.
Messiaen’s second mode, also called the “octatonic scale”, rises by alternating semitone, tone, semitone, tone etc. Messiaen used this scale a great deal, not just in his tunes but in the chords that he used (i.e. melodically and harmonically).
The third mode rises by a pattern of tone, semitone, semitone. It has four transpositions that gives a different combination of notes.
As seen, Wang Jian Ming’s scale corresponds to the third mode.

The attraction of modes of limited transposition is in the tonal ambiguity which results from their symmetry, as Messiaen points out, a tonality can be emphasized or left unsettled. From this point of view, the greater the symmetry the greater the possibilities. Thus, for modes which are transposable six times held much less interest than those transposable two, three or four times for Messiaen.
The use of such modes allowed Wang Jian Ming to be unconstrained by traditional (pentatonic) scales, injecting harmonic colour different from those of traditional chinese pieces and make the process of modulation more fluid.
Tonal centers are generally achieved through the use of pedal points and emphasis of certain notes more frequently and prominently, such as at structural points.

(extracted from梅西安的“有限移位调式”研究 by 康建东)

T0 (C D Eb E F# G Ab Bb B C)
T1 (Db Eb E F G Ab A B C Db)
T2 (D E F F# G# A A# C C# D)
T3 (Eb F F# G A A# B C# D Eb)

Intro --> T2

Looking at the piece from the perspective of the third mode, the Andante section corresponds to T1 of the 3rd mode in set theoretic terms (or 第二移位, refer to diagram above), however tonal center shifted from A to E and back to A centricity at bar 34 through the use of descending bassline.
It then shifted to T2 from bars 35 – 42 before it goes back to T1 at bar 42 beat 4, with temporarily change to T2 to reharmonise the A pedal at bar 55 and back to T1, leading in to the Adagio section. Again, there is a temporal change in colour with the introduction of D at the 2nd half of phrase 2 (bar 68) and back to T1 at bar 70.

I roughly followed the score to see how Wang utilize this mode for the piece.

Bar 74 --> T3
Bar 84 (Moderato Rubato) --> T2
Bar 92 (Allegretto) --> RH T2, LH T0

Bar 100 (Rubato) --> T0

Bar 119 (Allegro con brio) --> T3
Bar 151 --> T0
Bar 167 --> T1
Bar 174 --> T0
Bar 175 (reharmonise) --> T1
Bar 176 --> T0
Bar 203 --> T2
Bar 211 --> T3
Bar 213 -->T2
Bar 234 --> T0

Bar 238 (Largo) --> T0

Bar 267 (Allegro Assai) --> T0
Bar 291 --> T1
Bar 305 (Presto) --> T2