When I first saw Tan Swie Hian’s Night Kites, I was struck by the treatment of space and texture in the painting. A few figures resembling kites are seen wandering among the black background, giving the work a sense of homogeneity across different portions. While starry flickers and misty banners is not a literal representation of Night Kites, it employs the colours and textures of the painting with a musical interpretation. With silence as a canvas, the flute and bassoon serve as “kites” which permeate through the silence with fluttering gestures. These gestures are similar to the shape of the kites, which is mostly wavy and dynamic. The duet has timbre trills that mimics the flickering shapes, as well as melodic lines and counterpoint that depict lyricism amidst a pointillistic texture.

starry flickers and misty banners

This piece for solo alto flute is inspired by a pair of panel paintings by Japanese artist Maruyama Ōkyo (1733-1795), Goose and Reeds; Willows in the Moonlight, which I saw in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. The pair of panels both feature the water surface near its shore, with several distinct objects: a goose, and several branches of a willow tree. The artist is very minimalistic in his approach – the only signs of a water surface are a few waves across the entire panel. I was inspired by this idea and wanted to express it in this piece, where the tremolos represent the constant waves, and the added flourishes represent disturbances to the water by external objects.

on the water I saw a dancing goose...

Tribus Miraculis

The Bukit Ho Swee Fire of 1961 is a tragic episode in Singapore’s modern history that is often cited as the turning point in the nation’s physical and social transformation. The great fire that destroyed the country’s largest and last remaining kampung settlement was the herald to the government’s ambitious public housing plan that saw the development of high-rise apartment buildings. These modern “HDB flats” replaced the sprawling kampungs that were made up of more than 2,000 huts made from wood and roofed with dried leaves from the attap tree. Beyond the stark visual contrast, this was to forever change the way Singaporeans lived together.
“Bukit Ho Swee” is a nostalgic and reflective musical interpretation of this historical event depicting the destruction and reconstruction of Bukit Ho Swee. It is also a memorial to those killed, injured and left homeless that day whose stories may never be heard. The composer hopes that the music can serve as a reminder for posterity of some of the forgotten memories and stories of Bukit Ho Swee, and pay tribute to the pioneer Singaporeans whose sacrifices and indomitable spirit set the foundation for the nation’s future.

Bukit Ho Swee

The title 'to be determined' has a double meaning: the first is the uncertainty of outcome, and the second is the firmness of purpose. Similar to how both meanings seem to contradict each other, the music mixes two aesthetics that seem to contract each other — minimalism and spectralism. By forcing both into the piece, it bizarrely creates a conflict that does not seem to resolve.

to be determined

'Passages' is a set of four pieces with a core theme: a stream of continuous notes. This stream is like a journey that hopes to take the listener to different places within its sonic world. It explores contrasting emotions, as well as melodic and harmonic possibilities using a single line. 'Passage 1' presents a toccata-like theme that contrasts with the more lyrical and ambient secondary theme. 'Passage 2' has an unwavering arpeggio pattern that follows throughout the piece, out of which a melodic line appears. 'Passage 3' is a short but virtuosic piece, with some reminiscences of the lyrical idea in 'Passage 1'. The set concludes with 'Passage 4', which begins in a similar way as 'Passage 1'¸but continues to a toccata and quasi-minimalist sections, eventually ending off with a virtuosic finish.

Passage 4

Passage 3

Passage 2

Passage 1

Varadero is a resort town in Cuba, where I spent a week in the winter of 2017. It has some of most beautiful beaches I have ever seen, with an ever-present musical atmosphere wherever I went. This piece is a reflection of my experiences in Cuba, as well as the joyful emotions and memories I had over there.

Varadero

A Singaporean Composer.

www.guweimusic.com

Gu Wei

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