Ouga 《Song of Five friends》 for Mixed ensemble and Singer (2025)

for Gayageum, Hageum, Clarinet, Bassoon, Viola, Double bass, Percussion and Piano

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Commissioned by Seoul Arts Center

Premiered on 6th November 2025 at Recital Hall, Seoul Arts Center, South Korea

by Soo Yeol Choi, Bong Geun Lee and Korean Chamber Orchestra

The Joseon poet Gosan Yun Seondo’s sijo 《Ouga》 carries the meaning “Song of Five Friends.” Water and stone, pine and bamboo, and the moon—he sings of nature as steadfast companions, always present beside us in their unchanging forms. Yet Gosan does not stop at simply portraying the beauty of the natural world. By personifying these elements, he conveys the qualities and principles that a human being ought to cultivate.

A civil official in mid-Joseon, he was widely learned across many fields as well as the arts, but was ultimately driven into exile amid factional strife. For him, befriending nature may have felt more truthful—and more consoling—than keeping company with the cunning of people. Friends who remain consistently clear and discerning, who do not easily shift with self-interest, who hold to their intentions with humility, and who embody the virtue of quiet restraint: these are the five friends.

Encountering this poem while thinking of a life spent largely in exile, I felt less a simple praise of nature than a deeper sense of human anguish and reflection. My musical imagination began there. I wanted to reframe, through a contemporary sensibility, the contrast between what changes and what endures; the flow of emotion; the timbres and textures of the five friends; sound and vocal utterance; and the poem’s rhythm alongside Korean jangdan and modes.