Meteor Impacts (2012-2013)
for orchestra

“Meteor Impacts” is the first movement of my Symphony No. 2 “Sky Trilogy”.

Award:
Finalist, The American Prize in Composition – Orchestra Music Professional Division (2015)
Orchestra Members’ Choice Award and Audience’s Choice Award of National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition (2014)

Instrumentation:
Piccolo, 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, English Horn, 2 Clarinets (Bb), Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, Contrabassoon, 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets (C), 2 Trombones, Bass Trombone, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion 1 (1 anvil, 1 lion’s roar, 4 cowbells, 1 suspended cymbal), Percussion 2 (5 tom-toms, 1 snare drum, 1 suspended cymbal), Percussion 3 (4 brake drums, 1 bass drum, 1 tam-tam, 1 rainstick, 1 triangle, 1 ratchet), Piano, Strings.

World Premiere:
August 23, 2014
Final Concert of the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra Composition Competition 2014
Concert Hall of National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, Taichung, Taiwan
Lin Liao conducts National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra

Duration: 12 minutes

Program Notes

Literally speaking, Meteor Impacts for orchestra is a piece based on my vision of an imaginary landscape. The beginning metal anvil strike sound effects accompanied with extremely high woodwinds and strings aim to represent something unstable and unexpected. With a fanfare-like introduction, the screams in the high range soon transform into lots of giant chords with full orchestra which imitate the scenario where a meteor is striking a planet. The huge chordal sections, in the meantime, overlap and alternate with sorrowful melodies and rapid flowing notes to symbolize that this unusual event alters daily life dramatically and drastically. In the middle section, after a solo English horn section, the piece returns to a fanfare-like passage, yet it becomes more fierce and violent toward the very end.

For me, Meteor Impacts is not only a piece that describes an imaginary scene that hardly occurs in our daily life, but it further states a helpless and panicked situation which we might face unexpectedly. We are very likely to find that we cannot do anything to change what has happened. All we can do is accept the cruel impact that crushes our hopes for the future.

This is the world premiere recording.

為管絃樂團的《流星撞擊》從字面上的解釋是建構在我的一個想像的畫面中。開始在鐵砧金屬的敲擊聲中，伴隨著絃樂和木管極高音域的聲響，試圖想要描繪著某些不穩定也出乎意料之外的事物。有如信號曲的開頭，從超高音域的呼叫聲中轉變成由整個管絃樂團演奏出巨大的和絃，有如流星正在撞擊行星。這巨大的和絃同時也重疊和交錯著悲哀的旋律跟快速流動的音群，象徵著這種不尋常的事件正在戲劇化地改變人類的生活。在中段英國管的獨奏之後，開頭的信號曲段落又回來了，此時他變成更猛烈而富攻擊性的姿態直到樂曲終了。

對我而言，《流星撞擊》不是只是敘述一個幾乎不可能出現在我們日常生活中的想像畫面而已，而是陳述著當面對在我們期待之外的一個徬徨無助又驚慌失措的心靈。而且處在這樣的狀態中，時常感受到單靠我們自己是無法改變任何事實，所能做的只是接受這個粉碎我們未來希望的無情撞擊。

– Feng-Hsu Lee (February 14, 2013 West Hartford, CT)