陳以軒：鯤 - 給中音薩克斯風獨奏（世界首演）Yi-hsien Chen： KUN for Solo Saxophone

World premiere performance by Li-Fong Chen in Singapore Saxophone Symposium at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) - Singapore on 2019, Aug 4

Kun is a giant fish first mentioned in the first chapter of “Free and Easy Wandering” in the Taoist classic – Zhuangzi. In this essay, Kun is a legendary creature that could freely transform into any type of animal. For a long time, Kun serves as Zhuangzi’s famous metaphor to represent the invisible, shapeless, and changing nature of the universe.
In this piece, I do not intend to describe the philosophical content of the essay. Rather, I borrow this word to imply the changing and flowing quality of brushstrokes in the painting. The brush, with meticulous control by a painter, is like a magic instrument that produces thick, wild, and rapid lines. With a subtle movement of the wrist, the painter could also use the brush to create a gentle, thin, and delicate texture. Sometimes, I observe that all these qualities may exist simultaneously in one brush. With this inspiration, I treat the saxophone as a big brush to create an imaginary landscape in a musical space where we perceive through ears.

「鯤」在《莊子》的逍遙遊中，是以描述道的玄妙、不可視、不可解釋及千變萬化的特質。
此首作品中的「鯤」並非詮釋《莊子》中的哲學內容。對我來說，「鯤」引伸出的概念，猶如中國書法或水墨中筆法的千變萬化及自然流動。就畫筆本身而言，透過書法家的操控，它能表現出粗獷、狂野及快速般的線條，亦能再細微的調整下，立刻創造出柔和、纖細的流動。有時這些對比性的特質能在一個筆畫下同時呈現，成為單一線條中的多層次性。我嘗試將薩克斯風視為畫筆，通過樂器的豐富表現力，詮釋出那細緻微妙的變化。猶如《莊子》中的「鯤」，在音樂空間裡自由地飛翔、遨遊。