At One Day I Will Return
for percussion, narrator, strings, voices, and recording (2023)
15mins
This piece, with themes of time, faith, and determination, is a portrait of texture, rhythm, and contour. In three movements, the listener is introduced to the soundworld of chaos and wonders in nature, social turbulence and diverse traditions, and introspection of travelers. The first movement is a sound-map made of percussion and narrative. It is inspired by three travelers—botanist Joseph Rock, medical missionary Hubert Gordon Thompson (accompanied by Brig. Gen. George Pereira), and anthropologist Frederick R. Wulsin—whose footsteps covered southern and western China in 1923. The narratives in the music are taken from these travelers' journals, specimen labels, and letters. Through fragments of leaves, winds, and ceremonies, the audience is invited to a piece of history that is diverse, untamed, beautiful, and controversial.
Three Moods in New England
for wind and brass septet (2024)
I. Burlington, Vermont
II. Memorial Chapel, Connecticut
III. Forest Hills, Massachusetts
One of my most “personal” compositions — this little piece for wind septet speaks to the people, places, moments, sounds, landscape, spaces, colors, and states of mind that are vastly different yet all have deeply touched my heart. In three short movements, I strove to take the timbre and colors of flute, clarinet, saxophones, horn, trumpet, and trombone and create collective, moving, breathable voices that can sing the moonlight, the sunset, the jazzy roads, the pipe organ, the vibrating architecture, the geese, the leaves, and the stones... A duo between flute and trumpet or an improvisation on the saxophone evokes dialogues and fantastical imaginations, and silence and quietness accumulate and transform into the highest calls for soaring and joy.
II. Memorial Chapel, Connecticut (excerpt)
III. Forest Hills, Massachusetts
In Search of Lost time
for voices, pipe organ, pipa, vibraphone, and percussion (2021)
In Search of Lost Time was inspired by a Chinese/Mongolian folk song called 往日时光（wang ri shi guang) written by Wulan Toga (melodist) and Keming (lyrist) for solo male voice, classical guitar, accordion, and electric arrangement. The song starts with the line” “the most treasurable part of our life is the days in the past.” Throughout the song, one strives to recall the beautiful memories from childhood, without losing hope in the present. Wulan Toga grew up on the grassland of Hailar, a multi-ethnic town where Han, Mongolian, Hui, Daur, Evenki, and Russian populations gather together. His family members play all types of folk instruments including Morin khuur, flute, and the pipa. In his songs, Toga searches for peace and joy from “vast rivers and mountains in Mongolia” and endearing memories with his family and friends. Toga believes that “ethnicity is not an insular idea, and any ethnic group is part of the historical progress”.
In this rearrangement of wang ri shi guang, I keep asking questions about reconciliation with the past yet focus more on seeking and resettling oneself in the unsettled present. I chose female voices instead of male voices to reveal strength within softness. The song also asks: despite cultural traditions and geographical limitations, how do people fulfill their spiritual quests and gain inner strength? How do different instruments carry their musical and cultural traditions and speak for the present and the future?
The organ and choir indicate Western musical tradition yet the pipa, historically from Central Asia and the Middle East, and vibraphone, a 20th-century instrument with historical references to Africa and Central America, carry different histories and stories. If one traces back the past of the instruments, one may find the simplicity of music and the commonality and harmonies between different instruments. In this version of In Search of Lost Time, we not only reflect on our own past but also on the past of human beings singingly together with variations.