Song & lyrics: Xuezhou Wang, Sheng Han Gao
Translation: Chai Hao Chiu, Damien Soh

Performed by Alfred Chia, Ziwei Liu

我一生都在期望  一天会遇见
心目中的那个她  伴随我到老
她会和我抱膝相倚  彻夜共望  巴山秋池涨
不知道她  是否已经在眼前
For all my life I’ve hoped to see you 
To grow old together / With the you who used to be
In close embrace / We would watch through the night / 
Rivers swelling in autumn’s sorrowful rains, unfazed /
But are you who you used to be?

我一生都在期望  一天会遇见
心目中的那个他  伴随我到老
他为何若即若离如梦如幻	
似曾和我相望
不知道他  是否曾在我身旁
For all my life I’ve hoped to see you
To grow old together / With the you who used to be
You who appear and disappear like in a dream
You with whom I’ve shared a wordless gaze
But are you who you used to be?

[Chorus]
倦鸟南归 (难道) 和她 (他) 是否缘尽情未了
空有爱意  却未能 (夜雨里) 抱膝共望巴山秋池涨
千山暮雪 (荒野里)	 让我此生遇见你
今生有所求 (今生无所求) 
只因为我们曾经相拥
With the passing of time / Is our departure also nigh?
Love is in the air, but is it really?
For we have not lasted through even one autumn
Your face was but one amongst life’s vicissitudes
Yet it was you whom I saw despite the multitudes
A life unfulfilled (A life fulfilled)
If only because we had what was once ours

此生有你 Nothing Without You (from CUMSA Musical 2016 - 初见 'Beginnings')

Song: Ji Heng Lee, Ci Hui Lim
Lyrics: Chai Hao Chiu
Translation: Chai Hao Chiu, Damien Soh

Performed by Alfred Chia, Ci Hui Lim, Ruijia Mao, Eugene Chua

星空下追寻我们的曾经 
相聚时词曲缠绵 
残灯下回味着美好时光 
句句语语挂了思念 
黑暗夜晚传来熟悉的词 
给我丝希望曙光 
期望天垂听到我的恳求 
让我能重新再爱她
In the same starry night, 
I’m reminded of the times we spent composing our song 
Reminiscing in the flickering light 
Our words, heavy with longing 
When those familiar lyrics hit me 
Like a ray of light in the darkness of night, 
I pray with all my heart 
For a chance to love her again.

岁月蹉跎 悲欢离合 
爱已成镜花水月 
是梦是魔是幻想你是否能分辨 
天意弄人 花若离枝 
过去的她已不再 
就算记得起词脑里还是空白
Alas with time, people meet and depart 
And love is but elusive 
Dreams, obsessions, and fantasies – 
Can you really tell them apart? 
In a cruel twist of fate, 
She is no longer who she was 
Recognising perhaps the song of your love 
But not the love in your song. 

我心向往着心悉的时光 
语音萦绕着灿烂 
黑夜虽留不住夕阳彩霞 
梦想可能明天就实现 
I yearn for those moments sublime 
Our voices singing and entwined 
She might not remember everything 
Like how the night can never keep the brilliant sunset 
All good things come to an end  
But my hopes will never bend 

岁月河里 随波起伏 缘分的潮汐之间 
(岁月河里 随波起伏 茫茫人海中相遇) 
相遇分别都在初见的记忆徘徊
(相遇分别留住遗憾在眼里眉间) 
悠悠良夜不要变改 想牵她手到永远 
(悠悠良夜不要变改 相聚总会有绝别) 
楼中影词中情意是我俩的曾经 
(楼中影词中情意见证这段怨缘)
Caught in the ebb and flow of both time and fate, 
(you were fortunate to have met her)
How tragic it is, that meeting and parting revolves around our beginnings
(The sorrow of parting never too far from your eyes) 
If only we could be as we were / Me, holding her hands till forever (but people ultimately part!) 
The places we went and the songs we sang / Marks of our memories 
(are testament to this ill-fated couple!) 

拥抱过承诺过也放弃过 
两颗真心成两难 
那时灿烂或许太近黄昏 
有喜有悲爱是双面刃 
You’ve embraced, promised, and gave it all up 
The love that was is now no longer 
What you had was short-lived 
For love harbors sorrows just as it begets joys 

甜蜜过憧憬过也心碎过 
分散后心痛寂寞 
回忆盘踞莫当生死枯等 
天若无情就换你决定
You’ve loved, hoped, and despaired 
For parting always begets regrets 
Let not memories be your shackles 
Fate is cruel but you alone possess the key 

百般惆怅 百翻迷茫 
忘不了昔日情怀 
即使泪干肠断我也心甘情愿 
只想能再一次和她扬声合唱 
梦想它会有终点它却没有终结
Forlorn, melancholic, and broken, 
My memories still linger 
And I’m willing to trade anything 
Just to be with her again 
Must this love end without a conclusion?

几许痴迷 放逐追寻 愿意将生死相许 
欲诉相思 能否再聚 由什么决定
Obsessed, I search / Frantic to be with her forevermore 
And to tell her how much I miss her
Can we reunite? But who are we to decide?

缘怨 • 圆愿 Tragedy • Finality (from CUMSA Musical 2016 - 初见 'Beginnings')

Song: Daniel Yao Yuan, Dong Heng Qian, Ji Heng Lee
Lyrics: Ji Heng Lee

Performed by Xuezhou Wang

当走一丝希望 
患一生迷茫 
当走了生命 
却忘空一切过去
As the last glimmer of hope fades 
In exchange for just a ray of hope
My life fell into a disarray 
For I’ve trade everything I have
And forsaken everything that once was

人生起伏变化无常 
当铺都见惯 
每一场交易 
最后当走的只是绝望
Life twists and turns, waxes and wanes
These are but things that the Pawnshop finds mundane 
Every transaction they make 
Takes nothing but desperation off their minds 
(Leaves nothing but desperation?)

曾充满理想 曾怀着希望 
曾一心追求 那美好梦想
那美好梦乡 只是幻想 
什么希望都渺茫
We were once starry-eyed,
Chasing relentlessly the dreams we so glorified 
Alas, those were but castles in the sky
Our hopes, stultified

* * *

曾充满理想 追求梦想 
命运遭遇 却都不然 
希望渺茫 
迷茫中寻回方向
Pursuing the dreams we had,
Fate intervened, and we tried to stay true to our chase;
As hopes fade,
We fought to steer ourselves back to each other’s pace

梦之当铺
我已把光阴全典当 
这命运交易 
是否能还我希望？
The Pawnshop of Dreams
Was where I gave my everything
What hope can this frigid transaction spring?

还我希望 Hope Redux (from CUMSA Musical 2016 - 初见 'Beginnings')

Read more at https://jihenglee.com/chamber/2018-the-caged-bird-sings

“Caged Bird” from SHAKER, WHY DON’T YOU SING? by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps
on the back of the wind 
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks 
down his narrow cage 
can seldom see through 
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings 
with a fearful trill
of things unknown 
but longed for still 
and his tune is heard 
on that distant hill 
for the caged bird 
sings of freedom.

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft
through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a bright morning lawn 
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams 
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings 
with a fearful trill
of things unknown 
but longed for still 
and his tune is heard 
on that distant hill 
for the caged bird 
sings of freedom.

Copyright © 1983 by Maya Angelou
Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved.

Live recording from premiere
Royal College of Music, London
May 2018

[Image photo by Alex Holyoake on Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/OJYwC5JC7Bs]

the caged bird sings... (2018)

This piece is crafted around a florid sequential passage by François Couperin (from the 'Passacaille ou Chaconne’ of his Pièces de viole, Suite No. 1) which I find particularly memorable. I gradually recollect the passage by remembering its ornate features, eventually allowing it to coalesce into spirited passagework. Interestingly, the ebb and flow of the process of recollection (typographically embodied by the piece’s title) relates to the aesthetics of asymmetry and elaboration of the eighteenth-century rococo style. In this sense, this piece forms an impression of both the rococo passage, as well as the workings of one’s musical memory.

Live recording from premiere by:
Laura Alexander (baroque violin), Erin Barnard (violin), Lucy Morrell (violin), Chris Hedges (cello)
Girton College, Cambridge
June 2018

[Image photo by Evie Shaffer on Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/IPVdy-P8m_Q]

r        o     c  o co (2018)

i. noontime drizzle
ii. girl on her mother’s lap
iii. stars around the moon

In these three interconnected miniatures, I recollect several special moments I have experienced or observed during my week at Dartington in Summer 2018—memories of which would probably remain with me for life.

Live recording from premiere by:
Tritium Trio — Joseph Havlat (piano), Jernej Albreht (clarinet), Lydia Hillerudh (cello)
Dartington Hall, Totnes
August 2018

moments : Dartington (2018)

Read more at https://www.notion.so/henghenghengheng/autofocus-97060b9d0b384f88ae7eacf12046c9ee?pvs=4

In this piece, I explore various ways in which sounds and gestures might draw and shift our attention when watching a performance. This corresponds in an abstract sense to the notion of focus in the process of taking a photograph.

Live recording from premiere by:
Heath Quartet — Oliver Heath (violin), Sara Wolstenholme (violin), Gary Pomeroy (viola), Chris Murray (cello)
Dartington Hall, Totnes
August 2018

[ autofocus ] (2018), for string quartet

*Use earphones for optimal listening experience*

This set of miniatures for solo alto flute takes a curious peek into a piece for piano duo, entitled | thicket /-/-/ gesträuch |, written by my dear friend (and fellow composer) Nathanael Gubler. In each miniature, the | thicket | is being viewed through various perspectives — peeked into, its leaves scrutinised, heard from within... — which also explains the title of this piece. The more I listen to Nathanael’s work, the more creative possibilities I gradually discover; the number of miniatures in this set, I believe, would be growing over the years. The | thicket | is ready for picking.

Studio recording by Carla Rees (www.carlarees.co.uk/)
October 2018

| thicket /-/-/ gesträuch | by Nathanael Gubler - https://www.ngubler.com/thicket/

[Image photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash - http://unsplash.com/photos/fxhjyQSxDeE]

through the | thicket | (2018)

Read more at https://www.notion.so/henghenghengheng/Thinking-of-elder-Jia-97ed15de49234fc1aa98ee2fb303c734?pvs=4

Live recording from premiere by:
袁梓诚 Zi Cheng Yuan (dizi), 彭乙桐 Yi Tong Peng (clarinet in Bb), 杨昊然 Hao Ran Yang (soprano sheng), 石钱洵 Qian Xun Shi (alto sheng), 胡兆朋 Zhao Peng Hu (vibraphone), 纪然 Ran Ji (violin), 董钰婷 Yu Ting Dong (violin), 张琳 Lin Zhang (cello)
Conducted by 邹清宇 Qing Yu Zhou
上海音乐学院 Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Nov 2018

[Image photo by 许一 Yi Xu]

Thinking of elder Jia 想起贾爷爷 (2018)

In this piece, I allow Dickinson’s poem (entitled 'parting') to fill my imagination as I give vent to the equivocal sense of anguish and yearning she expresses. Read more at https://www.notion.so/henghenghengheng/parting-e872cbeb4bfb4e07a0836eca42c62851?pvs=4

Live recording from premiere by RCM New Perspectives Ensemble
Conducted by Timothy Lines
Royal College of Music, London
Dec 2018

[Image photo by Andrei Lazarev on Unsplash - https://unsplash.com/photos/fypKMv4eqpA]

Ji Heng Lee • 李智恒