• For unaccompanied piano

• Duration: 4'
• In 1 movement
• Composed in 2002
• Commissioned by School of Music LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts
• First performance: 13.05.02 Brahms Room LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts (Singapore)
• ISMN 979-0-9016500-7-7
• Parts: To purchase the score, please email <rc@robertcasteels.com>
• Recording: To purchase the Sonata Profana cd, please email <rc@robertcasteels.com>
• Downloadable scores for inspection:
  Sui_Yuen.pdf
• Recording: pianist Shane Thio

In Mandarin, the title Sui Yuan means “to follow one’s destiny, one’s fate”. This piece was inspired by Buddhist spirituality and was written in one day. Chinese people also use the words Sui Yuan casually to mean to play by ear, to go with the flow. I sense that westerners travel through time in a linear manner, constantly on the move, every present moment instantly becoming a past. In contrast, the oriental sense of time is concentric, seemingly staying on the same location but always going deeper and deeper inside. The latter is exactly what happens in Sui Yuan.

In the first part, the piano phrase is repeated 12 times, with each phrase comprising 6 elements. As notes disappear gradually in each repeat, the whole phrase becomes shorter and shorter until a short pause is reached.

The reverse process takes place in the second part, in which there is also a subtle play between the notes that are left to resonate and those that short and dry.