Programme Notes: Tenebroso by Lim Kang Ning

Lim Kang Ning (b. 1994)

Tenebroso for solo harp

Throughout history, whether religion or myth, the harp has always held a significant place in Western culture. Renowned for its dulcet tones and its expression of the celestial, we often think about its sparkling high register when we talk about the instrument. Tenebroso is dedicated to Karen Tay, and brings to attention both the harpist’s and the harp’s immense range and timbral colour as the piece traverses from one end to the other.

 

While composing this piece, I was struck by the images of the volcanic eruption in Iceland near Grindavík and James Fox’s introduction of the colour black in The World According to Colour. So the piece starts off in the bass register with oscillating notes and voices spaced closed together, evoking a sense of depth and darkness together with hints of quiet activity bubbling beneath the surface. As the piece progresses, the music opens up, becomes louder and rises through the register, with little moments of light or lava peeking through sporadically until it inevitably erupts into virtuosic displays of glissandi and quick rhythmic motions before its crashing close.

 

In Fox’s book, we are made aware of the numerous ‘black’ pejorative epithets that pervade our everyday language (e.g. black-hearted, blacklist, black magic). However, he also reminds us that we 'see' black by noticing "the lightness that surrounds or precedes it", and that "black, in other words, is made by light". Even Caravaggio's use of Tenebrism (derived from the Italian term Tenebroso for 'dark, and mysterious'), is not about black, but how the pitch-black backgrounds lends dramatic illumination to the works. Perhaps that is why Iceland's Prime Minister said the volcanic eruption was "a black day for all of Iceland", and that "the Sun will rise again”.

Tenebroso was premiered by harpist Karen Tay at Kris Foundation’s “Colours and Variations” on 23 August 2024 at the Esplanade Recital Studio.

Read more about Colours and Variations.

National Arts Council's Patron of the Arts Award 2023

Congratulations to our founder Ms Kris Tan on receiving the National Arts Council of Singapore’s Distinguished Patron of the Arts Award 2023, acknowledging the Kris Foundation's support towards the arts and its valued role in building a vibrant and sustainable arts scene in Singapore. This is Ms Kris Tan's 11th award from the NAC as an arts patron since 2012.

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/singapore/story20230912-1432804

(Photo: Courtesy of Lianhe Zaobao)

Programme Notes: Memories of a daffodil... by Lim Kang Ning

Lim Kang Ning (b. 1994)

Memories of a daffodil… for solo violin

I composed Memories of a daffodil... when the seasons started changing from winter to spring in London. One of the first signs of change was the burgeoning of daffodils in parks and seeing those fresh blooms being sold in supermarkets. There was nothing quite like the brightest shade of yellow that reminded you of the sun, that heralded better weather and that longer days were ahead of us.

Daffodils are usually planted in September. They spend several months developing roots before bursting forth with flowers between February and May. This piece reflects that, as the music is divided into three sections. It begins from the planting of the daffodil, grounding and starting the piece with the lowest note on the violin. The daffodil then anticipates its growth and imagines the wonderful possibilities through lyrical melodies, before going dormant during the winter months. The frigid weather is expressed through a sparse musical texture, with the violin going up to a higher register and using techniques like plucked strings and harmonics to create a cold sound world. In the final section, the time has come for the daffodil to shine and it bursts forth with increasing speed and rapid arppeggiation to signal the blossoming of flowers.

Memories of a daffodil… was premiered by violinist Joey Lau at Kris Foundation’s “RIPPLES” on 23 August 2023 at the Esplanade Recital Studio.

Read more about RIPPLES.


Programme Notes: All the bells at once by Lim Kang Ning

Lim Kang Ning (b. 1994)

All the bells at once, for solo piano

"Monday evening at nine o'clock a celestial hubbub took possession ofthe Capital. For sixty minutes musical notes struggled against the metropolitan noise, along the streets ofthe monumental city of Rome, between Piazza di Spagna and Santa Maria in Trastevere, San Lorenzo in Lucina and the Capitol, Piazza del Popolo and Saint Peter's Cathedral. One hundred churches and one hundred bell-towers were transformed, for one hour, in instruments ofan extraordinary orchestra."

This was how Roberto Monteforte described a bell concert that was held in June 1993 in Rome. The concert venue was the city of Rome itself, with more than 500 bells sounding off in co-ordination, in a specific sequence composed by Llorenc Barber. In order to compose a 'symphony of bells' like this, Barber had to study the sonic quality of each bell (e.g. pitch, resonance and decay), observe the urban soundscape of the city and consider how other elements such as wind and air-resistance could affect the overall sound world he was composing. Barber did many bell concerts in different cities including Innsbruck, Austria, where airplanes had to be redirected so as to not intefere with the concert and also in Poznan, Poland, where the concert had an interactive element and its citizens participated by playing all kinds of bells on their own.

My piano composition, All the bells at once, is inspired by bell concerts. It is my sonic imagination and interpretation of experiencing one, as the auditory soundscape blends and transforms when you walk from one point in the city to another. The music begins slow and stately, from the lowest tessitura on the piano around the pitch C. As the piece progresses, the music ascends in register as more pitches and rhythmic variety is introduced. The sequence of pitches in this piece also follows the plain-hunt pattern found in change-ringing. Change-ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in continually varying order. Change-ringing is also performed on handbells.

All the bells at once was premiered by pianist Mervyn Lee at Kris Foundation’s “RIPPLES” on 22 August 2023 at the Esplanade Recital Studio.

Read more about RIPPLES.

Programme Notes: A Japanese Poem by Lim Kang Ning

Lim Kang Ning (b.1994)

A Japanese Poem for solo piano

A Japanese Poem was written in celebration of Kris Foundation’s long-standing friendship with Miyuki Washimiya. While this piece is not inspired by a particular Japanese poem as its title might suggest, it is a musical representation of a Japanese poem I wished I could write. 

I was inspired by the text In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichiro Tanizaki. It speaks of a nostalgia for traditional Japanese aesthetics and highlights the subtleties of the unique Japanese sensibility. Although this nostalgia sometimes veers into the territory of romanticising the past, Tanizaki makes some interesting observations about the importance of light and shadows in Japanese and Chinese culture. Examples range from how light is taken in by Chinese and Japanese paper rather than deflecting it, to the importance of shadow in Japanese architecture and the appreciation of lacquer and food under different lighting.

Time flows in various ways in this piece. On one hand, the music is like a story and it unfolds linearly like a through-composed poem. On the other hand, within this singular narrative, the music is divided into sections that alternate between being ‘whole’ and fragmented in nature; thus making it cyclical as well. The piece can also be thought of as a set of variations. The origins of all the musical ideas in the various sections of the piece can be traced back to the first two sections of this piece.

The piece begins like an austere ceremony, in the way I imagined Nō and Gagaku (Japanese traditional art forms) to be codified to the point of ritualism. Nothing is improvised; from the size of instruments used, to the fingering and vocal techniques. This section is then interrupted by quick melodic fragments that seem to appear out of nowhere. However, as the piece progresses, these fragments repurposes itself to become a part of the syntax of this piece. The piece ends with a quotation of a famous Japanese folk song which I have a fond memory of.

A Japanese Poem was premiered by pianist Miyuki Washimiya at Kris Foundation’s “Souvenirs de fete” on 29 November 2022 at the Esplanade Recital Studio.

Read more about Souvenirs de fete.

Programme Notes: Flower Visages by Lim Kang Ning

Lim Kang Ning (b.1994)

Flower Visages for solo piano

花影 (Flower Visages) is a composition that I hold very dear to my heart. It was one of the first few pieces I composed when I began my journey as a composer in 2014 and was also the very first composition that I dedicated to my mother and inspired by the piano transcription of the famous 彩云追月(Colourful Clouds Chasing the Moon).

花影 (Flower Visages) is divided into four distinct sections and can be easily identified by the changes in character, articulation and tonal centres. The music begins in C major, with an undulating passage of fourths accompanied by flowing arppegiac motions. The music then flows into a darker section in E-flat minor that swiftly modulates to the relative major of G-flat major to immediately brighten the atmosphere. This gears the music up for a  beautiful passage that plays with the piano’s extreme tessituras and sweeping glissandos on the black keys of the instrument. This is followed by a very contrasting section in A minor, that is fiery in character and much faster in tempo. All the legato movements prior to this section are temporarily dropped in favour of a more detached and chordal accompaniment style that cumulates in a very majestic recapitulation of the theme. The theme first appears in C major, before modulating to D-flat major and concluding the piece in an ecstatic, virtuosic flourish of thick orchestra-like sonorities and glissandi.

Flower Visages was performed by pianist Miyuki Washimiya at Kris Foundation’s “Souvenirs de fete” on 29 November 2022 at the Esplanade Recital Studio.

Read more about Souvenirs de fete.