In the winter of 2016, when Ming Wang was flying from her present home in Vienna to Taiwan, the country of her birth, she began to play around with a vivid poetic image that had crossed her mind quite spontaneously in connection with the present work: she saw herself as a migratory bird flying year after year the ten thousand kilometres from Austria, only to make the long return journey north the following spring. She tried to imagine what a migratory bird would espy during its traversal of the various countries and landscapes. The resulting “Song” brings together many contrasting sounds and musical elements that symbolize the diverse geographical regions. The Chinese arched zither, or zheng, represents an exotic bird that has landed by chance in a Western instrumental ensemble.

 Music example (pdf)