对雪
for marimba and piano

Work no. 210
2022

I have never felt as helpless and as ashamed of my nationality than after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The piece was composed on February 28th, 2022, and as I am writing this, on the same day, the fighting continues, innocent people continue to die, the world is falling apart. The title is from Du Fu's famous anti-war poem, written in 756 CE, which describes exactly my feelings at this moment (translation from http://www.chinese-poems.com/d26.html):

After the battle, many new ghosts cry, The solitary old man worries and grieves. Ragged clouds are low amid the dusk, Snow dances quickly in the whirling wind. The ladle's cast aside, the cup not green, The stove still looks as if a fiery red. To many places, communications are broken, I sit, but cannot read my books for grief.

I never thought I would compose a political piece, until this day.