Moon Beyond the White Clouds
4 Songs to translations of Chinese poems - 2002
Wang Wei, Li Po and Chang Chiu-ling

duration 8 minutes

1. Distant Bell
2. The Man of the Mountains
3. Drinking Alone
4. Looking at the Moon and Thinking of One Far Away

Translations of poems appeal, placing the integrity of the original at one remove and perhaps giving scope for more legitimately combining a musical element.

This cycle followed quickly after Sappho Songs, but is very different in character, with a clearer cut sound world. In the cystalline first, an old man returns homet, hearing bells and the sounds of men winding up their work amidst the beauties of nature, before closing his door melancholically. The Man of the Mountains portrays a fearsome thunderstorm which, at the last, fades leaving the evening light to highlight the village of his absent friend for whom he pines. An anarchic drinking song follows, the narrator far from in control of himself, bemoans the loss of his two driking companions, sun and moon, hoping they will meet at last on the river of stars. The moon rises gently in the fourth, leading the poet to regret an absence, hoping for their reuniting in a dream.

Sadly, this cycle remains unperformed, though one song was used in a graduation recital (below). There is thus no recording available on this website.

PLEASE READ: THIS IS NOT A PUBLIC DOMAIN WORK ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED. PRINTED COPIES ARE FOR EVALUATION PURPOSES ONLY 

SCORE (from a volume of my four "early" cycles)

VIDEO - Drinking Song (from Moon Beyond the White Clouds):
Liu Feier (soprano), Nicholas Loh (piano)
Recorded at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore December 2020.

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