Collapsing Dome

“Collapsing Dome” was written for 2022 Alba Music Festival in Italy. It was premiered by the Estrella Consort on May 26, 2022. The piece was composed during the of war outbreak in Ukraine. I was shocked by seeing an image on The New York Times of dead bodies of a civilian family—visibly parents and two their teen-age children on street. They wore stylish modern cloths and carried backpacks and a blue roller suitcase trying to flee from their home being bombarded. This recalled my memory of living in Russia in my early years. People around me, on street, at train station looked just like the deceased family on the newspaper. I have never thought the chaos of war and violent death could be so emotionally close to me.

I composed this saxophone quartet, “Collapsing Dome,” dedicating to those suffering or lost their lives in the ongoing era of world crises since the beginning of COVID-19. The idea of echoing, i.e. displaced resembling melodic fragments, presenting through both movements symbols the long lasting suffering. The first movement “The Falling Sky” was inspired by the chaos, confusion, anxiety, and fear I witnessed and felt. The second movement “Requiem” was remastered from my String Quartet to express my hope that those troubled souls to be remembered and that they find their own peace.

—Yanchen Ye