Texu Kim: Birdsongs (2021) for flute (also piccolo and alto flute) and violin

Live performance by Deanna Pyeon‪@deannapyeon9952‬ (flutes) and Xenia Deviatkina-Loh‪@xdeviat‬ (violin) at the 2024 Asian Classical Music Initiative (ACMI) International Conference on Sunday, April 14th, 2024.
0:00 Movement I
3:14 Movement II
7:28 Movement III
Program Notes:
Birdsong was written to celebrate the friendship of the two performers who premiered this piece: Molly Barth and Inés Voglar Belgique (per their desire). Inés also shared some recordings of bird songs from her trip to Eastern Europe, which ended up being the title of my work. Throughout this piece, I embraced influences of Korean folk music, in which bird sounds are imitated in various ways. (My incorporation of Korean folk music goes beyond imitating bird sounds.)
The first movement is based on the story of their road trip. In addition to Korean folk music, I incorporated flavors of other traditions, including American fiddling (symbolizing the American road trip). The second movement explores various gestures resembling birdsongs and forms of dialogues between two friends, from ordered and pleasant chatters to heated and intense quarrels. The finale is based on my imagination of two friends recalling their fun times together. When writing it, I was also inspired by the stories of my mother and one of her closest friends, who was dying from cancer at that time. I hope this 10-minute piece reminds us to cherish all our moments with our loved ones.