Wanderlust II
Wanderlust II
Home
Limbo
Protagonist
symphony orchestra
composed 2025
Composer’s Note
Wanderlust II is a collection of three pieces for symphony orchestra that depict the yearning of discovering and exploring new places, things, ideas, and the feeling of wanderlust, focused more internally and more introspective. This is a continuation of Wanderlust, which focused on more external discovery. The three movements are Home, Limbo, and Protagonist. The pieces may be performed together or separately.
“Home”
During the writing of Wanderlust I knew that if I ever added onto it I would write a song dedicated to my family. Originally, I thought about setting a piece to or inspired by Chinese poetry that my dad would sometimes send to me. Additionally, during my travels abroad, there was this one particular trip where I felt homesick, which is what further compelled me to write this piece. Current phrases were also inspired by the melody of a Buddhist chant that I would hear at the Buddhist temple that my family frequents. All in all, this piece is inspired by my cultural and ancestral roots from China, which I weaved into my Western culture upbringing to create a blend that sounds like what “home” is to me. Home is relatively mellow in nature, a reflection of my personality, and the main section features a pentatonic melody (which are very prominent in East Asian music), which is harmonized by both pentatonic and diatonic scales.
“Limbo”
The term “mid-life crisis" is a popular one, especially as someone who is currently in their prime age to be experiencing a “mid-life crisis.” The feelings of uncertainty, nostalgia, dissatisfaction, and restlessness associated with “mid-life crisis” is what inspired this movement. I wrote this in a transitional phase of my life – I had just started my full-time job as an engineer post graduation and was trying to find my footing. The piece starts off with texture in the low winds and a melancholy melody in the English horn, gradually building up through the strings and hitting a climax in the middle of the piece. The second section feels less anxious and a little more comforting, but still lingers with a touch of feeling lost (things may turn out okay).
“Protagonist”
Following such an emotionally intense second movement, this movement comes as a stark contrast. The main message I would like to send through “Protagonist” is that “no one else will be the main character of your story except you, so embrace it and live life to the fullest.” Throughout almost the entire composition the strings give a bustling texture, accompanied with strong melodic lines and accents in the brass and winds. Towards the recapitulation, the piece blossoms into a strings only section, which encapsulates finally getting to a destination, moment, or realization, all before heading off to the next adventure.
Like Wanderlust, I am very proud of this piece of work! It may even trump the original Wanderlust in my list of favorites! All renders are with NotePerformer below.
