Glass Shards describes a memory of a mother rocking her child to sleep, serenading the infant with a melancholy lullaby. Journeying deeper into the memory, the peaceful image begins to slowly fracture as the lullaby endures. Eventually, the memory shatters like glass. A melody used in this piece is from a traditional Southern Vietnamese lullaby. My mother used this lullaby to coo me and my siblings to sleep when we were children. I would like to provide the first stanza of this lullaby for context:
Ví dầu cầu ván đóng đinh,
Cầu tre lắc lẻo gầp ghềnh khó đi.
Khó đi mẹ giắc con đi
Con đi trường học, mẹ đi trường đời.
To roughly translate this, the stanza begins by describing an unstable bamboo bridge bound by nails, rough and difficult to traverse. The mother holds her child’s hand and guides them across. Waiting for the child on the other side of the bridge is school and a day of learning, but the mother must face a test of life.
Oswald Huynh is a composer from Portland, Oregon. His music explores narratives and concepts from the lush nature of Oregon, the intertwined web of human connection, and his Vietnamese heritage. Huynh often blends traditional Vietnamese aesthetics with Western techniques to compose music that reflects his multicultural upbringing, such as his orchestral piece, The Dragon Prince, which is based on the Vietnamese creation myth. He has worked with the Akropolis Reed Quintet, Alexander String Quartet, h2 quartet, The City of Tomorrow, and the Atlantic Music Festival Orchestra. In the past, he has participated in the Wintergreen Music Festival, Mostly Modern Festival, and the Atlantic Music Festival. In addition to composition, Huynh is an avid bassoonist and chamber musician. Huynh holds a B.A. in music and computer science from Lewis & Clark College where he studied with Michael Johanson and Texu Kim.