Byron Au Yong

songs of dislocation

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Island: Theme and Migrations
for two pianos

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DESCRIPTION
Island: Theme and Migrations refers to Angel Island, the Ellis Island of the West Coast, where Chinese sojourners carved their poetry into the walls of the immigration barracks. I think about their hardships and desires as I etch out sounds with gestures that come from the main theme.

These migrations, variations in the classical music sense, vary from performance to performance because I've cut open the notation. Melodies and chords float around the score.

Two pianists are separated by the bodies of two grand pianos as if they were separated by the ocean. The strings resonate between them as they touch the keys like sunlight bouncing on the waves. Across the distance, the pianists hear each other.
Byron Au Yong
AUDIO

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DETAILS

  • Duration 11 minutes
  • Premiered by Nancy Jang and Regina Yeh at Brechemin Auditorium, April 2007
  • Performed at Meany Hall, May 2007
  • Commissioned by East-West Piano Arts

PRESS QUOTE

"I've heard him conjure more beauty and expressiveness out of two stones clacked together than many composers can with a full orchestra; he likes to couple his exquisite aural imagination, movingly, with themes of migration and distance."
Gavin Borchert, Seattle Weekly