kangyimusic

Everyone I know remembers the exact thing they were doing when the September 11th attacks
occurred. This is a watershed in US history and the stories of my generation. Suddenly, the
military might of America becomes powerless when faced with attacks from within. On the 11th
September 2001, terrorists simultaneously hijacked four planes and crashed into the World
Trade Center, Shanksville Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon, causing a death toll close to 3000.

1st movement – Cataclysm
The flight numbers of the planes are converted into musical notes in the ominous beginning.
Waves and waves of chaos gradually build up to the first climax with both hands reaching the
extremes of the piano. On that day, it was the moment when the second plane hit the South
tower of the World Trade Center that we knew America was under attack. The flood of emotions
in the second section thus overshadows the first climax. Fragments of a famous tune can be
heard buried under the falling debris.

2nd movement – The Aftermath
In ‘Lamenting amidst falling ashes’, I recall Ground Zero as being shrouded in ashes while
survivors and rescue workers appeared. Away from the city, I also visualize the vast open space
at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the spirits of the innocents soared up to heaven.
‘Remembering the heroes’ is a tribute to the 403 firefighters, police officers and Port Authority
officers who rushed into the burning towers while everyone was rushing out. Three old
American songs – ‘Shenandoah’, ‘Shall We Gather at the River’ and ‘America the Beautiful’ -
are now finally presented in a more transparent manner. Listen carefully to the more deeply
embedded ‘America’.

Coincidentally, a day before I finished the piece (15th May ’14), President Obama dedicated the
National September 11th Memorial and Museum. I would like to thank Prof Ian Krouse for his
guidance in this piece.