Unlike a program music which relies on literary fantasies, this piece was musically inspired by visual artistic means.
I was overwhelmed with joy, finding myself exploring my 'true inner sound', assimilated by the profound mental
artistic ideas as well as philosophical dilemma which the artist, Yeo-Hwan Youn tried to convey in his works.
The music consists of seven short chapters or sections. Section A represents the theme of the paintings, the goat.
The meditative images of the solemn and silent single-eyed animal depicted in the paintings are portrayed by
melodic and harmonic progressions of dark and gloomy augmented 4ths. The textures of two different
overlapping diminished 7th chords change as they go back and forth, resting and praying as in a pilgrimage; just
as flowers, butterflies, fish… birds, clouds, and the unseen winds change in characters of thought. section B
offers a song of cry in silence; C, the mysterious encounter; D expresses the meditative thoughts facing the
unknown; E is an Ode to joy; F depicts repentance at the peak of life; and finally A', a hymn praising the
deliverance of the worn-out goat returning from the pilgrimage.
As I was born under the Chinese astrological sign of goat, the paintings of the goat gave me special meaning and
put me in a state of elation and gratefulnes as if they were sacred, heaven-sent revelations for me.『Le Pèlerinage de l'Âme』undeniably symbolizes the reincarnated self-portrait of my musical soul.
The piece was commissioned by the Hwa-Eum Chamber Music Ensemble.
(Piano Ji Hyun CHO / Violin : Sung Won YUN / Violincello : Myung Jin LEE)
(CD) Young Ja Lee Korean Traditional Music & Ensemble Music
