A Cave of One's Own
​This piece was commissioned  by the
BBC Singers written for Jasdeep Singh Degun and BBC Singers, broadcasted on BBC Radio 3 on 19 October 2021.

A Cave of One's Own
for sitar and SATB
​
I was led to a cave
All I can hear was myself
My breath, my voice, my thoughts
I speak, I sing, I shout
a never ending conversation with the echo
A song I sing in days and nights
To keep myself awake
In hope to see a flush of dawn.
​(notes by Sun Keting)

​

A Cave Of One's Own

Every year for Christmas, my grandmother brings home a fresh bouquet of Poinsettias to display around the house. The Poinsettia flower has always been a symbol of the Christmas season in my household. Native to Mexico, the plant is called Flor de la Noche Buena (Flower of the Holy Night) due to its resemblance to the star of Bethlehem. Thus, it represented a symbol of hope. However, in 2014, The Poinsettia would come to represent destruction as the nickname for the second most destructive wildfire in San Diego, CA starting at Poinsettia Lane and burning over 400 acres of land over the course of 3 days. A year later, an article describing the scene held the inscription that served for the catalyst of this piece, “Sound rises from the ashes of the Poinsettia fire.”

Ashes to Poinsettias tells a narrative to evoke the idea of a single Poinsettia flower outlasting the destruction of the Poinsettia fire. It musically juxtaposes this narrative by using grandiose moments intermixed within a thematic development that encompasses the idea of hope amid destruction.

Ashes of Poinsettias

Recorded at Arvo Part Center, Estonia, as part of a GEC commission.

Xiaofu Ju, piano
Jiayuan Xu, piano

Fire and Ice (2023) for piano four hands

Classical (55)

Dies liquidus

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Artwork by Max Klinger: "An die Schönheit" (1898)

Pleroma (To Go Without Time)

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Coverart by Ünsal Demirbaş: https://www.pexels.com/@catlises/

Classical song.
Enjoy!

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