Funeral Playlist #1

 The phenomenon in which a being ceases to exist and returns to “nothingness” is what we call death. There was a time when it was widely accepted as common sense that only humans were capable of recognizing death. However, recent studies have observed that animals such as elephants, crows, and chimpanzees also perceive the death of others and perform behaviors that appear to honor the deceased. Perhaps the act of mourning others’ deaths, commemorating them, and keeping them alive in memory is something that appears universally among many living beings.

 There are many ways people commemorate death. Undoubtedly, the number of ways is as vast as the number of observable human individuals. Still, wouldn’t we be able to gain some perspective on these sentiments by gathering a sample of, say, around 50 to 60? With this idea in mind, I collected pieces that deal with the deaths of various (already) deceased composers. A total of 59 samples were gathered, and these citations are arranged over a 20-minute performance with varying distributions.

 But really, what good is it to grieve more? Our duty is to live on—fully, even for those who have left. Still, let us not forget them. It is because they once existed that we are here now. Let us be grateful and rejoice that they once lived!

(revised version of the program note, August, 2025)

I. prologue-procession

 This movement is like a Contrabass concertino, which is the heaviest instrument of the instrumentation. It cannot be carried from the back of the hall onto the stage. So it had to be the solo-instrument for the introduction. While the Contrabass player is playing the rhythmical passages contrasting from the rest of the movement, rest of the players slowly enter the stage from behind of the audiences while reading the obituaries (written by me and Chat GPT based on the actual obituaries) of the composers who were referenced in the whole set. The solemn choir and the crying/wailing of the Contrabass contrasts to each other, a common archetype of grief and consolation.

II. smolder

 It starts with a minor 3rd interval, which can hint at many things at the same time. After completing the movement, the sublime and tender character reminded me of the smell of incense that smolders in front of the portrait of the recently deceased, which is a common sight in Korea in its ritualistic context. The natural and gradual flow of the piece is pretty linear, but in a pretty clear tertiary form. 

III. ashes

 The movement is for the unorthodox string quartet, and maybe the most unimportant movement among these nine. It acts as a transition or an episode from the second movement to the fourth movement. Desolate nature of the movement feels like a residue of the second movement, with each sections having almost unrelated to each other. It's simply a juxtaposition of different moods passing through, to lead towards the next movement.

IV. flowers/refrain

 The movement works around its refrain, in which after the sections with different durations everyone has to return to. It is centered on the dialogue between the Oboe and 'Cello, however the surrounding instruments need to accompany these two soloists through each sections. Flowers usually, serves merely decorative purposes in funerals, but regardless of their culture. This universal phenomenon is very interesting, as it feels like it serves purposes to set the flowery, fragrant path towards assumed afterlife. But after the funeral, they get thrown away. Out of their use, they become the first to be discarded.

V. bells

 There is a story around Arnold Schönberg's Op.19 No.6, which was allegedly added to the set of piano pieces that were originally consisted of five of little piano pieces, after the composer attending to Gustav Mahler's funeral. The piece's characteristic bell-like chords have striking resemblance to other pieces too, and I felt a need to find similarities to other sonorous chords which are not following the exact harmonic series. It ends with Claude Vivier's Glaubst du an die Unsterblichkeit der Seele, a piece he was working on until the time of his murder, foudn alongside his mangled corpse.

VI. totentanz 1

 Dance and death were for some reason always matched together, especially there were many iconographies surrounding this very theme. Rejection of grief and sorrow leads to the corporeal activity dynamic enough to drive them away. Also in recent years, the four dancers with a casket on their shoulders in Africa went viral on the internet, which led me to think about the relationship between dance and death more. This movement is explicitly rhythmic, contrasting to the characters of previous sections.  

VII. veils

 Slow music was never a thing for me. Slow paced music in not so tonal context felt quite wrong, even though I myself enjoy slow and quiet very much. For this movement, I emptied out many things, and refrained from using any quick or flamboyant gestures for wind instruments except for the English horn. The wind quintet led by the English horn hints at the traditional functions of double-reed instruments, which are often used in funeral ceremonies around the world. 

VIII. remember

 The movement is like a Viola concertino, the whole movement being based on Paul Hindemith's Trauermusik, which was composed in 6 hours upon the news of the death of King George V of the United Kingdom. The original material was already based on a chorale, Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit. Spotlight on the viola with the soft accompaniment of all the other instruments concentrate the attention broken by the slow, meditative nature of the seventh movement, and then they lead naturally to the last movement, epilogue-totentanz.

IX. epilogue-totentanz 2

 This movement was composed the first when I started working on the set. It is meant to contrast the beginning of the set drastically, being jolly and exuberant while the beginning being solemn and tragic. It relies greatly on one of the most famous gregorian plainchant, Dies Iræ. This plainchant was used to the point where it cannot be taken seriously anymore, therefore I had to make it sound funny or very joyful. Which can be seemed like a very odd choice, thinking that the piece is revolving around the theme of death. However I beg to differ, as we cannot do anything in front the face of the death, and moreover, there would be no point in being engulfed in grief all the time. We have no choice but to enjoy our life to the fullest, and celebrate for the life of the people who already had left our side.