Phang Kok Jun - composer of Singapore Chinese Music Competition (SCMC) 2024 erhu Senior Category finals set piece 《渡》Trials and Tribulations. In 2022 edition, he also composed《梅花魂》The Courage for Peace, a concerto for the zhongruan Senior Category finals.
Since 2022, Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) planned to commission local composers to produce 8 concerto works, one for each of the 8 solo category instruments across 8 editions of SCMC. Firstly, this is to introduce local composers or works with a clear local theme to encourage and promote works with a strong Singaporean character, secondly, it adds on to the repertoire for Chinese instruments.
The first commissioned work The Courage for Peace was inspired by the story of Mrs Elizabeth Choy, a war heroine during World War II in Singapore. She courageously helped the injured British soldiers by delivering supplies and goods for them. It is a stark reminder that we cannot take for granted the peace and the freedom that we enjoy today. The piece is programmatic by nature, which means that it tries to tell the story in a chronological and descriptive manner. The beginning of the piece sets the scene for war and confusion, through that, there is this theme of sadness and melancholy, within, a voice of courage and empowerment rises. From the musical gestures, there is a bit of tension to depict capture by the Japanese Kempeitai soldiers. Mrs Elizabeth Choy survived the war and the piece ends with a more hopeful note.
This year, it is particularly special for Kok Jun as he grew up playing, the erhu. Trials and Tribulations, puts the soloist as the protagonist of a musical narrative of adversity, resilience and overcoming the odds. It offers musicians space to reflect their own experiences within the interpretation. Huayue speaks to Kok Jun to find out more about his works.
In what ways are The Courage for Peace and Trials and Tribulations similar or different?
I try my best not to repeat myself too much, but after more than a hundred works, I think it is inevitable. Maestro Tsung Yeh once commented that I have an American style with French influences and Chinese roots. I believe that may be true. The Americanness is probably in my interest in minimalism and my love for jazz music; the French in terms of sound and atmosphere; and the Chinese-ness in my approach to melody and inclination towards programmatic (narrative) music. These characteristics have found their way in both pieces, despite the fact that they follow a different arc.
Do you plant Easter eggs in your music?
Sometimes, I do have Easter eggs, usually in arrangements. I recall adding Flight of the Bumblebee to an arrangement of the children's song《小蜜蜂》, and sometimes for pop arrangements I hide a counter melody of another pop song simply because the chords are the same and the melody forms a good counterpoint.
For SCMC 2026, what would you imagine the commissioned set piece to be and for which instrument?
The German composer Paul Hindemith was known to have written solo works for a large variety of instruments. Other than the usual suspects of piano and violin, he also wrote for viola, tuba, bassoon, double bass and many more. By now, I have written solo works for dizi, sheng, ruan, zheng, pipa, yangqin, percussions and erhu. I thought I could perhaps do a Hindemith and compose for all the Chinese orchestral instruments as well! An instrument that I have not written a solo work for is the suona and it is perhaps the one that I would love to write for at this point. While I have done arrangements that feature the suona, dealing with it as a soloist for a new work is daunting and out of my comfort zone. I would need to spend time to properly study the instrument!
What are your thoughts on composing for established musicians vs young competitors?
I always have to be mindful for who I am writing for. I don't necessarily think about their age or how established they are, but rather their strengths as a musician. For SCMC, I picture a good senior category musician and the musical strengths I would like to see from that musician. Thus, the pieces were written to be challenging - proper concerto works that shows off the player's musicianship.
What if the winner’s interpretation and performance is different from what you had anticipated?
What I have in my head, what I have on the score and what I hear during the performance will differ. Music is organic and that is part of the fun. Different players feel differently about the music and they will interpret certain passages differently. That is to be expected and I certainly would not want to hear photocopies or a midi-like performance. In fact, sometimes I deliberately score with a bit less detail to leave space for interpretation and if I do have a specific sound in mind, I will score in a Mahler-esque manner with more precise dynamics and written directions.
As a composer, which is your favourite part of the creative process?
I have a love-hate relationship with each part of the process. The ideation phase is fun and full of possibilities but it is also incredibly frustrating when I lack the inspiration. The writing phase is exciting but it can also get tedious with long lonely hours into the night. Many composers love the part where the work gets its premiere but that is a bit two-sided for me. Certainly, it is rewarding to witness the fruits of your labour, but I'm also critical of my work and how it pans out. Ironically, there have been times when a piece was well received by the audience but I was fuming inside because I felt that I could have done a better job with the piece's development, orchestration and balance. With every work, I hope it will be performed more often and played past its premiere all over the world!
冯国峻：2024年新加坡华乐比赛二胡高级组决赛指定曲目《渡》作曲家。同时，冯国峻也是2022年新加坡华乐比赛中阮高级组决赛协奏曲《梅花魂》作曲家。
新加坡华乐团自2022年以来，委约本地作曲家创作 8 首协奏曲。这 8 首曲目各针对一种独奏乐器，分别在 8 场新加坡华乐比赛中呈现给观众。这个计划的目的有二。首先，委约本地作曲家创作具有强烈本土色彩的作品，有助于鼓励及推广更多此类作品。其次，这些作品成为新的华乐曲目，丰富华乐作品内涵。
此计划下的第一首委约作品是《梅花魂》，灵感来自二战期间新加坡抗日英雌蔡楊素梅的故事。当时，蔡楊素梅不惧危险，勇敢地为受伤的英国士兵运送补给品和其他物资。她的故事给了我们深刻的提醒，提醒我们莫将今日享有的和平与自由视为理所当然。这首曲子循序渐进，以顺叙的方式带出描述性色彩，将这位抗日英雌的故事给听众娓娓道来。曲目的开场，描述了战乱时期的颠沛流离，曲调营造悲伤与忧愁的氛围。然而，在绝望之际，人们心中崛起了勇气与力量。接着，音乐姿态表现出压迫感，描述蔡楊素梅遭日本宪兵队俘获的情境。所幸，蔡楊素梅坚强过人，熬过了战争。因此，此曲以希望与曙光收尾。
今年对于冯国峻来说这尤其特别，因为他从年幼时就展开了他的二胡演奏人生。在《渡》的编排中，独奏家化身为音乐剧主角，讲述一段逆境求存、坚毅不拔、排除万难的故事。音乐家在诠释曲目时，同时获得反思空间，在演奏时也得以省视自身经历。这期的《华乐》与冯国峻进行了交谈，希望借此机会进一步了解他的创作。
《梅花魂》和《渡》有哪些异同呢？
我尽量让作品的重复性不要太高，但创作了一百多部作品，有些重复似乎在所难免。葉聰大师曾经对我的作品作出评价，说我的作品属于美式风格，受到法国影响，并具有中国血统。我还蛮同意的。美式风格大概来自于我对极简主义的兴趣，以及对爵士音乐的热爱。法式元素来自作品中的音韵与氛围，而“中国风”来自我对旋律的处理，还有对于叙事音乐的偏好。虽然《梅花魂》和《渡》两首曲子的曲风不一，但这些特色在两首曲子中都有迹可循。
你会在音乐创作中布置彩蛋吗？
有时我确实会，尤其是在改编作品当中。我还记得，我在改编儿歌《小蜜蜂》时，加入了《大黄蜂的飞行》。有时，在流行音乐的编曲中，我也会偷偷加入来自另一首流行乐曲的相对旋律, 这么做，是因为我发现这两首歌的和弦相同，而这样的旋律安排正好形成很棒的反差。
依你看，2026年新加坡华乐比赛的委约指定曲目会是什么样子，针对哪种乐器？
著名德国作曲家保罗·欣德米特（Paul Hindemith）曾为各种乐器创作过独奏曲。除了常见的钢琴和小提琴，他也为中提琴、大号、低音管、大提琴等创作过独奏曲。迄今，我本身已经创作过笛子、笙、阮、筝、琵琶、扬琴、打击乐、二胡等独奏曲。我想，我也许可以效仿欣德米特，为所有华乐乐器一一创作独奏曲！在我还未创作过独奏曲的乐器当中，其中一种是唢呐。所以，目前来说，创作唢呐独奏曲可以视为我的愿望清单中的一项。虽说我改编过以唢呐为主角的作品，但为唢呐创作一首全新的独奏曲，还是个艰巨的挑战，迫使我走出自己的舒适圈。我还需要花点时间来好好研究这个乐器！
为资深音乐家和年轻的音乐比赛选手写曲，你会有什么不同考量呢？
我必须切记作曲的对象是谁。考量因素未必是年龄或资历，而是他们在音乐方面的强项。为新加坡华乐比赛作曲时，我想象的对象会是一个高级组的乐手。然后就是我希望从那位音乐家身上看到的音乐造诣。有鉴于此，我为比赛创作的曲目都颇具挑战性。这些曲子都是能够登上大雅之堂的协奏曲，为的就是要让音乐家展现自己的音乐才能。
要是比赛优胜者对乐曲的诠释和演绎与你预期的不一样，你会怎么想？
我脑海想中的、乐谱上写的，以及我在演出中听到的，肯定会有所不同。音乐是种有机艺术，这也是音乐的其中一种乐趣。每个音乐家对同一首乐曲的感受都会有所不同，因此也会在有些部份的诠释表现出差异。这一点都不奇怪，而我本身也不会希望听到每个人的诠释都如出一辙，或是像录音档一样。其实，我在作曲的时候，有时甚至会刻意让细节从简，以便留白，让音乐家各自诠释。要是我想要听到某一种特定的表现，我会效仿奥地利作曲家马勒的做法，以更具体的文字说明更精确的要求。
作为作曲家，你最喜欢创作过程中的哪一环节？
我对于创作中的每一个环节都又爱又恨。构思阶段很有趣，充满了可能性，但要是我缺乏灵感的话，也常会感到非常沮丧。写作阶段很好玩，但这阶段也常常让人需要孤军作战，独自开夜车，有时确实令人非常厌世。许多作曲家都很期待作品的首演，但首演这件事对我来说有点矛盾。一方面，看到自己的心血结晶呈现在众人面前，当然很有满足感。但另一方面，听到自己的作品在台上演出时，我也不免对自己额外严苛。有几次，很讽刺的，作品受到观众的好评，但我听的时候，心里非常不高兴，因为我觉得自己在曲目的发展、编排、平衡上，都可以做得更好。无论是哪首作品，我都希望作品能够多多被演出，在世界各地登台，不要只停留在首演阶段！