靜心 – Silent Heart

for clarinet, percussion, violin, and violoncello
ca. 5’00”

相信每一個人，無論是在創作或工作的時候，都應該感受過「把心靜下來」的懊惱。生活在21世紀的我們時刻被無數雜念及令人煩憂的訊息纏繞，難以心無旁騖，達致身心俱静的境界。在《靜心》(2020) 此曲中，單簧管開始靜心地起動，卻無耐地被刺耳的敲擊樂和弦樂纏繞。當曲樂好不容易地回復片刻寧靜，雜念又瞬間蒙蔽腦海。最終，疲倦的音樂只好返回起點，重複這令人沮喪的循環。

《靜心》乃由香港作曲家聯會委約，而其首演將會由 NOVA Ensemble 演出。

Silent Heart (2020) is a piece for clarinet, percussion, violin, and violoncello which was inspired by the age-old struggle of "starting" — a challenge no stranger to anyone. To start anything productive or creative, one has to achieve a meditative state in which the mind and soul are both at peace. Finding this state, which involves a lot of letting go and relaxing, is usually difficult enough, but has now gotten even more arduous, due to the endless stream of bad news that has bombarded us since the beginning of 2020.

This piece shows this internal conflict. It begins with a thread of consciousness in the clarinet, which is periodically attacked by strident percussion and strings, wrestling with distractions and tangents until we hit a fleeting moment of peace. The distractions soon overwhelm the mind again until the piece tires out and eventually returns to where it started, continuing a hopeless cycle.

Silent Heart was commissioned by the Hong Kong Composers' Guild for the NOVA Ensemble.

Performances:

10 Aug 2021 (world premiere)
Hong Kong Composers’ Guild New Generation Composition Competition 2020
Y-Studio, Youth Square, Chai Wan, Hong Kong
NOVA Ensemble; Angus Lee, conductor