Samuel Phua
The Memory Mansion at the end of Time by Ng Yuhng
Music boxes in perpetual motion, memory banks slowly rusting, a perfectly preserved Victorian manor hanging like a jewel in deep space...
These surreal images derived from speculative fiction I've read became the compositional bedrock of this piece. The architecture of this work is akin to a tour around this mansion in the distant future. It begins at the gates, aged for eons but with a hint of its grandeur retained. The visitors are then ushered through the celestial hallways where one can observe the fading light of stellar remnants. Throughout their journey, they may hear the gears of antiques clockworks toys and glimpse half-forgotten memories, faded and flickering. All good things come to an end, and the visitors finally leave the same way they came, through the celestial hallways and finally out the door.
A poem of the same name was written by this composer, inspired by this piano piece. The pianist may, at liberty, use the poem's imagery as an interpretative framework for the performance of this work.
The Memory Mansion at the end of Time (poem)
Through the gates
Into the hallway of stars,
A luminiferous tomb
Blankets her ceiling.
And into the room
Of clockwork toys,
Their children
lost in time.
A requiem of forgotten thoughts Breathes...
And melts...
And fades...
Her arches sing and rust
As they retreat
Beneath the
veil of stars.
Beyond the aching doors,
Enveloped by mists.
By Ng Yu Hng 29/11/2020