Duration: 35 minutes
      Instrumentation: 1 flute, 1 oboe, 1 clarinet in B-flat, 2 horns in F, 1 trumpet in C, 1 trombone, 1 tuba,
                                      1 percussion player (timpani x 5, snare drum, marimba), soprano solo, baritone solo, chorus (SATB), strings
      Lyrics: from poetry of YANG Ping (楊平)

      Premiere performance:                                                                                               
           April 17 , 2010     The Song of life (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI)
                                                 ORIOL SANS, conductor; REED CRIDDLE, director of chorus
                                                 MENG-CHUN LIN, soprno; BRIAN CARTER, baritone  

                            CONCERT PROGRAM (including original lyrics and translation of lyrics)

                                 Movement I: 春草/ Spring Grass
                                              

                                 Movement II: 末世浮屠/ Stupa at the End of the World
                                              

                                 Movement III & IV: 沒有什麼不是飛行器/ Nothing Cannot, But an Aircraft
                                                                    我要唱一首人類之歌/ I Want to Sing a Song of Humankind
                                             
                

        Program note:   

THE SONG OF LIFE is written for soprano, baritone, chamber choir, and chamber orchestra, with texts taken from Mandarin Chinese poetry by Taiwanese poet YANG Ping. Inspired by the profoundly serious nature of the traditional requiem and the incredibly deep emotion expressed by its composers, this composition combines the various diverse strands of my life, incorporating literature, secular philosophy, and symbols of Christianity and Buddhism.

The first movement, 春草/ Spring Grass, states that "last year's death has been buried, the memories have vanished in an unknown swampland, and the short and sad romance has melted as snow." However, the deceased life has become nutrition to the land, and through its death brings the birth of spring grass. As Yang states, "Death is another form of rebirth," which accords with the Buddhism belief in reincarnation; when our bodies return to the land, the grass will eventually grow after the snow melts. After the soul is at rest in peace and silence, the spirit will still breathe through the grass.

The second movement, 末世浮屠/ Stupa at the End of the World, describes the world today as if it is the Last Day, in which humanity's greed for power and money brings hate, war, and death. Although people might be alive physically, they are, in another sense, spiritually dead. To contrast with the scene of the Last Day, the middle section, marked as Lamento, expresses the hopeless of humankind, who desperately call for the Lor. In addition to symbols of Christianity, the word, "stupa," in the title refers to a mound of mud or clay that covers relics of the Buddha or the funeral monuments of Buddhist monks.

The third movement, 沒有什麼不是飛行器/ Nothing Cannot, But an Aircraft, in contrast to the destructive second movement, intends to remind people of hope as long as we look inside our hearts with peace and serenity. As the poet states, the blossom in our heart will connect with the whole universe, and everything in the world, even a tiny grain of sand, will become a complete "One."

The fourth movement, 我要唱一首人類之歌/ I Want to Sing a Song of Humankind, is meant to positively transform the images of the "buried death," the "melted romance," and the "vanished memories" in the first movement. After the statement, "To wake the great land from its slumber, I want to recall people's memories...with dark pupils flashing, seek to piece together the jigsaw puzzles of shattered dreams," Mr. Yang again uses the "grass" as a symbol of rebirth. "When the soul regains its peace, I shall breathe as the green grass does."