Yellow millet dream: for string quartet

"Yellow Millet Dream" is a classic fable in Chinese Taoist culture. Lü Dongbin, one of the Eight Immortals of Taoism, falls into a deep sleep while waiting for his yellow millet to simmer. In his dream, he experiences a range of life's highs and lows, from the pinnacle of officialdom to the depths of despair, only to awaken and realize it was all an illusion. While the yellow millet has yet to fully cook.

The music begins with pizzicato, imitating the sporadic raindrops of a gloomy day. As Lü enters his dream, the rhythm transforms from simple to intricate, and the pitch shifts from serene clarity to complexity and ambiguity. The composition ends with an unresolved melodic line, symbolizing the philosophical thinking: Is our perceived reality genuine, or just a figment of our imagination? And if our current experience is indeed a dream, would we choose to awaken? Would you feel lost if the dream ended?