Of Passion And Passages - II. Andantino for Orchestra

Looking back, “I remember a crowd of people gathered around this story-teller at dusk. Around him, the crowd sat on folded pieces of newspaper and little bamboo mats on the ground. While others stood in silence, the story-teller lit an oil lamp and joss sticks of varying lengths, and placed them in front of him. Drawing from the anticipation of the crowd, he began his story, just where he had left off from his previous session with the audience..." 


Shades Of Oil Lamps (Live) for Chamber Ensemble

Of Passion And Passages - I. Allegro Moderato for Orchestra

While many of his works evoke aural images of Asia, Empyrean Lights, as the title implies, seeks its inspiration from a more celestial source; although the composer does suggest that the musical language is “unmistakably imbued with Asian influences, effectively bringing up a Singapore flavour”.  Ho writes that the initial idea behind the work came from “the auroras, which are natural light displays in the sky usually observed across the Scandinavian countries, like Finland, Iceland, Norway in the north and the Antarctic regions. These lights can appear in a broad static band of colours or shifting colours that change to the different rhythms and pulses across the night skies”. 

As with much of Ho’s music, Empyrean Lights creates aural images which imply a narrative but stops short of following a defined programme.  The auroras are evoked through shifting harmonies and fluid rhythms which, in the composer’s own words, “come across in wide bands consisting of different instrumental colours, as strands of motives streak across like the dancing lights. At times, different timbres clash producing a splintering myriad of sound colours across the musical fabric”.  The final part of the work is also a homage to the founding father of independent Singapore, whose death was announced as Ho was working on Empyrean Lights; “As the strings dance skywards into strands of wispy illumination, the lingering trumpets solemnly weave an epitaph in honour of a great statesman, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, whose light has shone across Singapore in his own way, thus bringing this irradiating light display to a close”. 


Empyrean Lights for Orchestra (YSTCM 25Sep2015)

ho chee kong

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