Excursion II - for Flute, Bb Clarinet, Sheng (37-reed), Pipa, Piano, 2 Violins, Viola, and Cello

This composition was selected by the 70th International Rostrum of Composers (IRC) as one of the Recommended Works. It was originally commissioned by the Hong Kong Composers’ Guild (HKCG) in 2023 to commemorate its 40th anniversary, under the concert titled "Transcending Music Legacy". The composition originated from the original quintet named “Excursion” and was subsequently expanded for this nine-member ensemble. The piece uses octatonic scale and augmented chords as dialectical forces and transcends towards a somewhat tonal conclusion as a synthesis. It is an excursion experiencing the phenomenon of the inescapable cognitive association of tonality, regardless of how far music evolves. This inescapable fate resonates with the concept of “Tonality” as one of the pre-expressive qualities of every sound, articulated by the composer Helmut Lachenmann, who stated that one can immediately hear and create tonal connotation even in non-tonal settings. Many people grow up with tonality and habitually generate musical meanings with it, thus our listening is somehow conditioned by tradition, culture, and ideology.

With the aim of letting the listener experience the inescapable fate of having tonal connotation when listening to sounds, besides having a tonal conclusion as mentioned, inspired by Lachenmann’s Accanto, I intentionally slip in a fragment of Mozart’s piano sonata during the obscured tonality, giving the moment a heightened tonal aura. At the same time, the piece continues by deconstructing, extracting, and re-contextualising the acoustic qualities of the sonata’s fragment as a way to open up the possibilities of the materials that were once supposed to be used only in tonal language.

In commemorating the 40th anniversary of HKCG through this composition, the intention is not merely to celebrate the past but to transcend musical legacies (as the concert title suggests). By blending the Mozart with the contemporary, fusing Western with Chinese instruments, this piece invites the listeners and performers to contemplate and to participate in the ongoing evolution of musical meanings.

Sheng: LOO Sze-wang 盧思泓
Pipa: PANG Wai-lun 彭偉倫
Flute: Marco LEUNG 梁俊彥
Clarinet: Stephenie NG 吳麗文
Piano: Joanne LI 李玟鋗
Violin: Sean LI 黎逸晞
Violin: Vanessa CHAN 陳朗瑚
Viola: William LANE 凌藝廉
Cello: PUN Chak-yin 潘澤然
Conductor: Angus LEE 李一葦

Excursion II (for Ensemble)

Samuel Hong-yu Leung