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israellai · 牆內幾點鐘 / coeng⁴ noi⁶ gei² dim² zung¹ (2023) for soprano and piano

23 August 2024 — today marks the 35th anniversary of the Baltic Way, and the 5th anniversary of its successor.

Watch 鍊 lin6-2 on @theflock.manchester now.

#classicalmusic #music #piano #pianomusic #pianosolo #composer #musician #newmusic #contemporarymusic #composition #hongkong

Baltic Way at 35 Years 🔗 Hong Kong Way at 5 Years @theflock.manchester

How do you form your first impressions? First Impressions for piano quintet, now on YouTube

Roast my music – In this silent world, these are all the sounds we needed

Roast my music – Perfect Cadence

Roast my music – Vocalise from the Abyss

A Conversation - Stewart Knights

I got this impression from you
Which I recon no-one else caught.
Subterfuge - can’t pull the wool
Over my eyes so easily mate,
Not again anyway.

You probably use a different name
Around your closest friends,
One which we’re all not privy to.
But little do you know,
I do too.

Some call me time, others,
revenge. Some call me the sweetness
Of justice, others, a friend.

But to you my friend,
I am nothing more than
That which you fear,
Resent, complain about, abhor

Improvsation by PlayMud Piano Quintet
Israel Lai, piano
Michael Fung, violin
Kishi Li, violin
James Cheung, viola
Jackie Choi, cello

esK – A Conversation | Poem + Piano Quintet Improvisation

What the flock is the flock?

Recorded on 22 March 2024, with the PlayMud String Quartet, in the International Anthony Burgess Foundation.

00:00 I. Allegro moderato
03:28 Untitled - Stewart Knights
10:35 II. Allegro vivo
15:09 III. Andante moderato
21:22 Ceremony - Stewart Knights
25:44 IV. Allegro molto

Israel Lai, piano
Michael Fung, violin
Kishi Li, violin
James Cheung, viola
Jackie Choi, cello

Poems by esK:

Untitled - Stewart Knights

Waves flow, flow, flow
But never into your harbour.
Your ships remain docked,
beached and unable to fish.

Run aground 40 miles inland,
Lightning cracks the slates atop your home.
But on this grey, grey, grey island,
Faces alike smile over rims of teacups
Smiling at the smiles alone.

Anchored as you were, you weren’t immovable
And the man in the suit reminded you of that.
No thought for what suited, you were booted
To the four corners of the island.

Your feet hurried across hot sand
on your way to somewhere cooler,
you forget to pack your bags.
It’s okay, though, you never unpacked them in the first
place - choosing instead to wait
For the waves to flow, flow, flow Into your living room
Your hair wet and thoughts liquid, being carried away
To that cooler place.

Ceremony - Stewart Knights

I’m in a house and
to be honest, I’m fine,
all things considering
the fact, at least I think,
of the matter arising about the sink and the ship
Which happened when we weren’t listening.

I’m sure you can relate.
I’m sure you can relate.
gaze is a powerful thing.
Your soul on display,
Open-wide,
looking, planning,

Ears pricked to a different breeze,
A whole new song sing.

#classicalmusic #music #concert #stringquartet #orchestra #musician

Gabriel Fauré – Piano Quintet No.2 in C minor, Op.115 | with poetry by esK

Premiered on 22 March 2024, with the PlayMud String Quartet, in the International Anthony Burgess Foundation. Commissioned by PlayMud.

Israel Lai, piano
Michael Fung, violin
Kishi Li, violin
James Cheung, viola
Jackie Choi, cello

First Impressions was written as a musical response to early 20th-century French works, featured in PlayMud's concert of the same name.

It juxtaposes the ideas behind Impressionism with our personal experience of forming ﬁrst impressions. Day in and day out, we are constantly forming and reforming our impressions of each and every person we meet, starting with their appearance, and developing with our understanding of their personality.

This piece is a musical representation of that process: it ﬁrst gives incomplete glimpses into the underlying harmonies, allowing the listener to form their own musical interpretation. Gradually, more and more of the hidden harmonies are revealed, challenging the listener to question their own impressions.

In the meantime, the harmonies grow tighter and more interconnected, as they ﬂow into each other increasingly smoothly. Ultimately, the piece asks the questions: did the opening give the correct ﬁrst impressions? Does it matter if our ﬁrst impressions are wrong?

#classicalmusic #newmusic #contemporarymusic #composer #composition #musiccomposer #stringquartet #orchestra #musician

Israel Lai – First Impressions, for piano quintet (2024)

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