Solo and Chamber Music Works

Selected Full Recordings

Works involving Chinese Instruments

across a sea of clouds (2021) for cello solo

2022.10
Commissioned by Huikuan Lin and Taipei C-Camerata
Composer: Chen-Hui Jen
Pipa: Huikuan Lin
Violin: Chia-Lun Chang
Recording: Chia-Lung Huang
Mastering: Jacob David Sudol

Still mountains, still... (2022)for pipa and violin

2023.11.08 Performed by the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra
National Recital Hall, Taipei, Taiwan
Photo taken and the manuscript written at the Copland House

Program Notes

“Only a short distance have I gone astray, and I know today I am right, if yesterday was a complete mistake…” 
(Quoted from “Homeward Bound” by Tao, Yuanming, translated by Lin, Yutang)

In recent years, I have repeatedly meditated on the relationship between humans and time: What will my role and my perspective be after everything changed in time?  How do I perceive the time that has changed everything?  Following this, a number of my recent project focus on a meditation on humans and nature as well on humans’ impact on the environment with interpretations and re-interpretations of the symbols of rising water and receding nature.

towards drifting pines extends the poetic ideas of pines that I use in multiple of my previous works and re-interprets and re-orchestrates them into a new musical texture.  The title directly responds to my 2008 work, Under the Pines, reflecting a meditation in nature when time slowly passes.   Differing from the calmness and peacefulness when I composed Under the Pines, towards drifting pines reflects my resonance with Tao’s poem and conveys a spiritual state of endless drifting and internal isolation.

樂曲解說

「實迷途其未遠，覺今是而昨非……」

這幾年我常在思考人與時間的關連：在一切變遷之後，自身所處的當下是怎樣的視野與角色、在時間裡的感知又是怎樣的狀態。近來數首已完成與手上正在著筆的作品，也都陸續環繞著類似的課題，關於人與自然，以及人類對於環境的影響。因此我以「湧上的水」與「消逝的自然」，兩個與自身情感與生活經驗最位密切關連的題材，透過不同的視角來為關於時間的沉思著墨。
此曲延續多首前作關於「松樹」之樂念加以配器、整合為嶄新的音樂織體與面貌。標題《無歸之松》與自身2008年之另首絲竹樂作品《松下》相呼應，同樣在彷彿時間靜止的大自然間沉思，但今已非昔。比起當年寫作《松下》時秋意微涼、海風吹拂的愜意，《無歸之松》借用【歸去來辭】中詩人感嘆迷途之意象，以反映足跡與記憶皆漸行漸遠、飄泊無可依歸的心境。

towards drifting pines (2023) for di, sheng, pipa, daruan, zheng, erhu, and electronics

Through a Fading Autumn (2010) 2 Huqins, Pipa, Zheng

Commissioned by Li-Teng Huang and PIPAEnsemble
Pipa: Li-Teng Huang
Cello: Joe Wan

2025.05.03 Zhongshan Auditorium, Taipei City, Taiwan

群峰層浪 (Layering waves across the mountain peaks)，給琵琶、大提琴與電子音樂
(2025)

此作品受黃立騰與琵琶雅集委託，以台北的相關地景與記憶為發想創作，於二零二五年春季完稿。

在《群峰層浪》中，我所聚焦的是環山縱走，當風吹越山嶺、層疊的群草化成一片浪濤的景象。──在我的記憶中，在山嵐與磺氣氤氳間，春夏時是滿山綠草如茵，入秋之後則披上雲霧與芒草交織成的蒼茫。在除了風聲之外只剩下寂靜的峰頂，偶爾可以望見遠方的海，一片無盡湛藍、亦是一海未知的深遂。自從十多年前搬至沼澤地帶旅居之後，山逐漸於我賦予了特殊的意義：它象徵遺世獨立的境地，象徵不斷流逝的時間與無盡憧憬，也見證了天地萬物的恆常與多變。關於山嶺群峰的記憶是美麗、感慨、深刻、並且疼痛的。我在樂曲中探索琵琶、大提琴、以及電子音樂之間的，跨越時空與文化的對話，以共構一個有機的聲景空間：如同人生的波瀾，層層疊疊推向孤寂的峰頂，推向永無止盡的未來。

Layering waves across the mountain peaks (2025) for pipa, cello, and live electronics

Müller Chamber Choir (木樓合唱團) 2016 commission
"in betweem emptiness"  隨心所欲─於空之間, lyrics by Hsiao-Ching Yang (in Chinese)(based on the Heart Sutra), English Translation: Chen-Hui Jen

[English Program Notes]

This work was commissioned by the Müller Chamber Choir and supported by Taiwan National Culture and Arts Foundation.  

The original lyrics, written by Ms Hsiao-Ching Yang, is titled in Chinese "隨心所欲", which literally means to follow the heart flows.  The symbolism in the lyrics quotes the Buddhist scripture Heart Sutra.  I hence followed its poetic meanings and made the English title in between emptiness, representing a boundless state transcending time and space.  In the work, the chorus consists of three groups that sometimes interlace or interact with each other, to symbolize the human world and beyond.  Each part also consists of many similar but independent lines that form a rich and variable texture.  The solo singer and narrator lead the work's musical flow that interprets the poetic meaning of emptiness.  There are two passages in the lyrics quoted directly from the Heart Sutra.  For these passages, I double the sentences in Chinese with Sanskrit, as parallel existence in different pulses.   The whole piece generally follows the context of "human – transcended human" and consists of five continuous sections and two layers of poetic interpretation:  The first two sections mostly elaborate the ideas of "transcending human sensory and entering eternal state where there is no life and death", and after the pivot, the last two sections interpret a poet image of "everything is the form of emptiness".

In my imagination, in such a transcending state, our senses can feel and communicate with all directions, all time, all spaces, and all languages.  I therefore intended to reflect this imagination of multi-layered time-space with the chorus' lush sound texture.

中文樂曲解說：

此曲受木樓合唱團委託、國家藝術文化基金會補助所創作，以楊曉菁女士所作之歌詞《隨心所欲》入樂。

《隨心所欲》樂章之歌詞與意涵取材於佛典《心經》，因此我在音樂上將它詮釋成一個超越時空的自如狀態：合唱團在曲中分為時而結合或對立的三組，象徵人界與超乎人界的空間，各聲部並時而細分為各自相似但獨立的線條，以合成一個織度變化多端的整體。曲中的獨唱與獨誦角色作為帶領進入全曲織度的「主角」，詮釋對一切「空相」的體悟；而兩段引用的《心經》片段則來自不同的時空，重疊中文與梵文的相同句子，以相異的脈動同時存在。全曲大約以「人→超脫之人」之脈絡分為五個段落、兩層主要詮釋的意義：前兩段大致繞著「超越人界感官、不生不滅」為主，過了中段的樞紐，末兩段則主要演繹「一切皆空」的意象。

在我的想像中，在超越時空的狀態裡，感官能接收到來自四面八方的訊息、能在不同的時代或世界來去自如、並能理解並說出不同的語言，因此我試圖以豐富的合唱聲響織度重現這樣的「多層時空」想像。

Lyrics:

花非花，霧非霧
A flower is not a flower; the fog is not the fog.

眼不再定睛於萬象
The eyes start to see beyond all the presence,

耳聽見所有不曾的聽見
the ears then hear everything never heard.

不生不滅。不垢不淨。不增不減。
They are not born, not annihilated; not tainted, not immaculate; they do not increase, and not decrease.

不增不減。不垢不淨。不生不滅。
They do not increase, not decrease; they are not tainted, not immaculate; not born, and not annihilated.

嘴，不再嚼蠟似的苦咬，
The tongue stops tasting things as dry as dust,

鼻子懂得呼吸的韻律。
the nose starts to breathe with rhythm.

心，理解剎那即永恆
The mind understands that every moment is eternal, and

永恆即剎那。
Eternity is momentary.

大腦鬆弛了極速運轉，知了安住於當下　（註：了=瞭）
The brain relaxes from tense thoughts, being aware that

就是賞心樂事。　（註：賞心樂事出於牡丹亭遊園驚夢）
enjoying the present is bliss.

是故空中無色。無受想行識。
Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, no thought, no confection, no consciousness;

無眼耳鼻舌身意。無色身香味觸法。
No eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no form, sound, color, taste, touch, objects; 

無眼界。乃至無意識界。無無明。亦無無明盡。乃至無老死。亦無老死盡。
No Dhatu of vision, until we come to no Dhatu of consciousness; there is no knowledge, no ignorance, until we come to there is no old age and death, no extinction of old age and death;


無苦集滅道。無智。亦無得。以無所得故。
There is no suffering, no accumulation, no annihilation, no path; there is no knowledge, no attainment, and no realization. Because there is no attainment,

無所得亦無所失。
No attainment therefore no loss.

諸法空相，諸相皆空。
All the Dharmas are characterized with emptiness, and all characteristics are in the form of emptiness.

in between emptiness (2016) for male chorus

Drifting Mountainwards (2015/17) for pipa and live electronics

Ensemble: 20° dans le noir （www.ensemble20degres.com）
Mastering: Jacob Sudol

until after the twilight (2017) for flute, accordion, cello, contrabass, and electronics

2018.05.12 First Performance by the Little Giant Chinese Chamber Orchestra

From Fading Mountains (2017-18) for Erhu, Pipa, Zheng, and Electronics

Returning Pinewards (2018) for zheng solo

Piano/Electronics: Chen-Hui Jen

	Still in the days of my aging, I shall do so for you –
	play the piano, see you to the ship bound for
		Byzantium
	with music close to fading. Silence
	here is beyond all summits
-	Yang Mu "Propositions of Temporality"
English translation by Wen-chi Li and Colin Bramwell

The piece's title evokes Yang Mu's poem "Propositions of Temporality."  After I wrote into silence, and keep falling four years ago, this composition is another work where I seek a state of silence.  Specifically, I drew a particular interest and made an intimate connection to the concept of "silence" in the poem – the ultimate moment after all the waves of a lifetime.  I have been repeatedly thinking about this idea in the last few years to make up a specific part of myself from the past – to awaken and hear those inner voices.  To realize this goal, I created a musical texture full of many symbols such as ocean waves, distant bells, and fading traces on the water, to aurally send myself to both an initial and the final state of silence.

老去的日子裡我還為你寧馨
彈琴，送你航向拜占庭
在將盡未盡的地方中斷，靜
這裡是一切的峰頂
			─ 楊牧《時光命題》


此曲標題取自楊牧《時光命題》一詩，亦為我在繼四年前寫作的《恆墜之寂》後、另一首探討「寂靜」的作品。我特別喜愛詩中終極的「靜」的意象，在經歷人生風浪之後、凝結的那一瞬間。對我而言，這些年我總在思索，跟過去的、內在的某部分的自己和解，喚醒便聽見那些記憶深處的聲音。因此我在全曲音樂織體中大量使用如海浪、遠處的鐘、消逝的航線等象徵，企圖將自己在聽覺上送回那最初、也是最終的寂靜狀態。

Onto the Silent Peaks (2020) for piano and electronics

Chen-Hui Jen is a composer, poet, and pianist, whose music presents an imaginative, spiritual, and poetic space with subtlety and sophistication. She writes music works that reflect an angle of contemporary art music that integrates time, sound, color, and poetry.

Through a Fading Autumn (2010) 2 Huqins, Pipa, Zheng

Chen-Hui Jen, Composer