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

and optional off-stage tenor horn.
Premiere recording at Jackie Choi's graduation recital, 26 May 2023, at the RNCM.
Oolong (Mar 2021–Mar 2023) was a gluttonous, quick-footed, well-travelled Syrian hamster with oolong-milk-tea-coloured fur and an oversized-peanut-shaped physique. He was my only friend and roommate during the pandemic, and has been to three cities around England and Scotland. He passed away due to complications from an eye injury.
He never bothered to chew through a peanut shell, despite having loved peanuts more than anything throughout his life.
His last peanut will forever lie unopened, waiting to be savoured, like his remaining months that could have been lived.
Commissioned for Jackie Choi's graduation recital.

Israel Lai (2023) – Elegy for an unopened peanut, for tenor horn and piano

Trying out @dorico's score condensing on my piece ‘Mind the Gap’

Progress update on my orchestral piece Mind The Gap

Israel Lai – cranes among chickens (2022) for string trio

The verb wun6 waa2 refers to a cinema ending the run of a ﬁlm and starting another. This changes the decor, the exhibits, the merchandise, and the general atmosphere inhabiting the physical space of the cinema. Despite that, the ﬁlms' runs usually ease into one another, and at the end of the day, it's a similar experience of si ing in a dark room with a projector.
This piece extracts a few scenes from my memory of being in Hong Kong, as if excerpts from several dusty ﬁlm rolls. In rapid-ﬁre succession, it switches back and forth between highly contrasting scenery, from busy street crossings to riversides, from metro trains to hiking trails. Yet as the ending shows, these scenes are all part of a whole, part of the same space, and blend into one continuous experience of a culture and its hustle and bustle.
wun6 waa2 is written for Sandbox Percussion, as part of the Peter Reynolds Composers Studio 2022, at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival.

Israel Lai – wun⁶ waa² (2022) for percussion quartet (Score video)

#music #musician #composer #musicfestival #cardiff #caerdydd #wales #cymru

@valeofglamorganfestival here I come! Can't wait to meet everyone finally!

Recorded live on 15 June 2022, during a workshop with Ben Powell and Harvey Davies at the University of Manchester.
00:00 I: Two Pigtails
02:54 II: Do you have the time?
05:40 III: Disappearing statue
Ghasts of the Lake portrays three spirits in different parts of Chung Chi College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Two Pigtails depicts a ghost girl on Pond Crescent. She arrived in Hong Kong as a refugee, having snuck onto a train and escaped the Cultural Revolution in China. As she jumped off the train by the university, her pigtail was caught and her face was ripped off. Now she haunts the dimly lit path as a ghost with a pigtail at the back, a pigtail in front, and no face.
Do you have the time? depicts a water ghost in Lake Ad Excellentiam, at the heart of the college. She once agreed with her lover to meet on the bridge at midnight and elope, but the clock struck twelve, and he did not appear. She leapt to her death, and now, she appears at night to ask young men on the bridge for the time—and drags them into the water if they respond twelve.
Disappearing Statue depicts the Goddess of Democracy statue in the college. She was first sculpted to commemorate the victims of the Tiananmen massacre and subsequently relocated here in 2010, becoming a core landmark of the university as well as a symbol of liberty. At Christmas 2021, she was taken down under pressure from the Hong Kong authorities. While her form is no more, her spirit remains with the people of the university.
Written in Jan-May 2022 in Manchester.

Israel Lai – Ghasts of the Lake (2022) for two pianos

Recorded live on 5 April 2022, during a workshop with Psappha for the University of Manchester.
Conrad Marshall, alto flute
Tim Williams, vibraphone
00:00 I: River
02:27 II: Surge
04:08 III: Down, down, down
The title Clay Bodhisattva is taken from the Buddhist proverb, ‘a clay Bodhisattva (Buddhist deity known for compassion) crosses the river — unable to even protect itself’.
This piece is dedicated to those who, knowing the risks to themselves, still attempt to help those in need.
Written in Dec 2021 in Birmingham.
《泥菩薩》為中音長笛、顫音琴而作，喺2021年十二月寫成，獻畀明知不可為而為之嘅有心人。

Israel Lai – Clay Bodhisattva (2021) for alto flute and vibraphone

捨醫科讀音樂　尖子的大學真諦 (backup)

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