Artistic Director Yoon Jae Lee conducts the New York Premiere of Huang Ruo's Chamber Symphony No. 1 "Path of Echoes" with Ensemble 212. Program notes by Huang Ruo: Path of Echoes: Chamber Symphony No. 1 was commissioned by the IRIS Orchestra. The title Path of Echoes, or Xiang Ji in Chinese, has two meanings: a path full of echoes and the paths along which echoes travel. Whenever I am on a mountain, one of my favorite things to do is listen to echoes, those of voices, birds, wind, rain, thunder, falling rocks, and sometimes, the echoes of echoes. When sounds bounce among the hills, I always try to visualize how they travel from one point to another and how they change in sonority from the original waveform. A gigantic 'sound map' appears to me in which I can see or hear the paths of the various echoes. I also like to create different echoes with my own voice. To hear how each sound I make changes as it bounces and travels along is both entertaining and scientific to me. Paths of Echoes is about the experience and process of these transforming echoes. Musical instruments can produce many interesting sounds. My focal point in Path of Echoes is to have different orchestral instruments initiate the sounds and then use various techniques to echo them back and forth. The entire orchestra is like a 'sound map' in which the notes are repeated or carried from instrument to instrument. Some sounds are re-produced right after they are made but some are not echoed back until minutes later, creating echoes of memories. When I was invited to create a new work for the IRIS Orchestra, the only request was that the work should echo the theme of the concert: War and Peace. I have never been in a war nor do I want to be in one. My closest experience was living in New York City while going through the tragedy of the 9/11 attacks. For a month after that day, I could not write a note of music. The depression came to an end when I finally realized that when we make music, we do not harm other people. I started writing again. Though Paths of Echoes is not related to war and peace directly, there is a funeral march for the dead, a lively dance for the living who loves life, and a lament for those who have lost loved ones. The entire piece runs about 20 minutes and has five sections, which should be played in succession. This video is listed under the kind permission of Dr. Huang Ruo.