Patrick Yim will continue has performances of my recent solo violin work, Fragile Remembrance, with events on his home turf in South Bend, Indiana at the University of Notre Dame on December 7 and again at the Zhejiang Conservatory in Hangzhou, China on December 28. I will attend the performance in South Bend. Thanks again to Patrick for his brilliant playing!
Fragile Remembrance Premiere
Bravo to Patrick Yim for his outstanding premiere of my solo violin work, Fragile Remembrance, at Duke University! My work is a big one, not just in length but in scope. Patrick brought out the drama and also the nuance of this memory-inspired music. Also on his varied program were works by friends and colleagues: Chen Yi, Lei Liang, John Liebertore, Austin Yip, and Zhou Long, as well as Kaija Saariaho. Patrick will repeat the program at UNC Greensboro tomorrow.
In Search of a Title (for solo violin…)
Choosing a title for a work is an interesting process. In some cases a title comes easily, in other cases with difficulty; in some cases before composing starts, in others after the last note is written. When I started jotting down ideas for my current solo violin work for Patrick Yim, I first wrote “Memorial” at the top of the page. I think the backdrop of the pandemic was still on my mind. Likely because of this, my work has a long middle section marked “Lamentoso.” Soon into the process, however, I realized this was not just a memorial work, crossed out that title, and replaced it with “Memory.” This, in turn, shifted to “Remembrance,” something a bit more poetic or affecting. Finally, I settled on “Fragile Remembrance.”
My finished work, around 16 minutes in length, does have something to do with remembering and with memories and things that fade away. But these memories are unstable, always shifting, and often interrupted. They are the memories of every emotion—both tender and bitter—and also perhaps the memories of certain great solo violin works of the near and distant past. But are these memories reliable? I am very much looking forward to sharing this work with the audience at Duke through the diligent work of my dear friend, Patrick.