Australian Music Centre | Breaking sound barriers

Work Overview

Composed soon after moving to the fisherman's village on the small island of Ma Wan in Hong Kong, this three movement work takes its inspiration from aspects of the island environment. Though it is not illustrative in an overtly programmatic sense, each movement relates, however obliquely, to specific local landmarks. The opening Prelude is a memorial to an erased old landscape mural that used to exist on the wall in the local temple. The following fast and almost totally monodic Toccata was conceived whilst observing from afar the regularity of traffic movement on top of the island's connecting bridges, whilst the closing Epitaph is a reflection upon the desolate empty houses, stone tablets and crumbling facades of the original village.

The presence of earlier repertoire for the pairing of piano and violin also looms strongly in the background. Perhaps most palpable is Bartok's 2nd Violin Sonata; the final slow Epitaph of Ma Wan Music could be viewed as a direct homage to this great work.

Work Details

Year: 2023

Instrumentation: Violin, piano.

Duration: 15 min.

Difficulty: Advanced

Commission note: Written for 2025 South China Contemporary Creative Concert Series, Guangzhou.

First performance: by James Cuddeford, Linda Yim — 5 May 25. Canton Tower Theater, Guangzhou, Chin