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With this series of short miniatures, I took Japanese haiku poetry as my main source of inspiration; however, I did not set out to structure each miniature strictly according to haiku form (5-7-5 syllables), but rather wrote them as a reflection on how haiku poems manage to say so much by using so little. To this end, I only use four different types of musical textures throughout the piece as source material, mainly as a way to limit myself with what I can use, and also to let each miniature speak for itself without having to use a huge musical vocabulary.
The title is derived from the 2nd and 3rd lines of one of the last haiku of Matsuo Bashò„, who is considered to be one of the pioneers of the haiku poem. These two lines seemed to communicate a sense of aimlessness to me, but at the same time a sort of yearning to keep traveling forward. I wanted the piece, as a whole, to communicate this idea, with the music seemingly having no clear direction but still possessing a determination to keep pressing on.
Premiered by Siyu Chen on May 26, 2025 in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall of the Royal College of Music, London