The word “chusang” in the Korean title means to “look back and reflect past events”, and is not widely used today. Musicologist Wolfgang Sparrer analyzes that “memorial” in the original title has a meaning that encompasses both “memory (Erinnerung)” and “warning (Mahnung),” and further states that the frightening fanfare that initiates the piece serves as a warning of the apocalypse, while also anticipating a similar idea in Yun’s first symphony.
Fanfare and Memorial is a rare piece among Yun’s work in that it declares a theme and develops the music by elaborating on this theme. The individual tones that constitute the fanfare theme are fixed, while the individual tones of the the strings are imbued with life. If the brass fanfare is European, the vitalized tones of the strings are East Asian. Sparrer explains that the “stringency” of the fanfare theme gradually loses power and becomes blended in the East Asian “softness.”
Like many of Yun’s other works, this piece is composed with a three-part structure, movement-stillness-movement, in a single movement. While the disparate tones of East and West clash, reconcile and coexist, the harp plays an instrumental role in the process, especially with a stand out solo part in the “stillness” section.
