parting (2018) • Ji Heng LEE
composed by Ji Heng LEE http://jihenglee.com
Description:
My life closed twice before its close —
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me
So huge, so hopeless to conceive
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.
— Parting, by Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
In the face of inevitable goodbyes, Dickinson’s words resound with weighty, mortal resignation. Yet beyond the pall of desolation there is a sliver of light— that ever so ineffable vision of transcendence, of which we can merely fathom with our temporal minds. In this piece, I allow Dickinson’s poem to fill my imagination as I give vent to that equivocal sense of anguish and yearning.
Live recording from premiere by RCM New Perspectives Ensemble
Conducted by Timothy Lines
Royal College of Music, London, Dec 2018
(recorded by RCM Studios)
See corresponding page in my portfolio: https://www.notion.so/henghenghenghen...
Audio recording: / parting-2018