Lullaby

Flute

Clarinet in Bb

Piano

Percussion
Crotales (with 2 octaves range, normal mallets & 2 Contrabass bows);
Glockenspiel 2 pieces of non-resonant metal (high/low); Ratchet; Suspended Cymbal

Violin

Violoncello

Even though I am not born in the era when the traumatic massacre happened in China, the fear of my hometown – Hong Kong being converted into a city deprived of freedom is constantly heart-beating inside each of us. In recent years, the darkness of the society emerged and surfaced, arousing global concerns. This dystopian work is named ‘Lullaby’. It is intended to be a simple ‘song’ that a mother would sing to the child. But to the fact that we are being forced to accept our step-mother, the lullaby becomes hidden in all sorts of hatred and web of noises. It is therefore also a ricercar, to search for the real lullaby of my city. The music content follows the sentiments of several lines from the poem Broken Home, a vivid account of a Hong Kong-er’s vision to the 1989 Ti’anmen Event in China. The several short motives of the ‘house’ were presented, followed by rapid exuberant heterophonies of the main motives. The inner voice of us is then gradually unveiled through the late-romantic pianoforte melody. Only when we are able to talk on the front porch, not out back in the alley can one hear the ‘real’ lullaby of our city. Yet all is destined for the hometown, like the music diving deep down into an abyss of toneless world abruptly, my hometown would one day be shattered to void in all of a sudden.