Playground 樂園 (2024) for soprano saxophone, viola, and piano by Zhuosheng Jin 金卓晟

Live recording by Ding Zhang (saxophone), Ao Peng (viola), and Siyuan Li (piano), April 11, 2024, in Shenzhen, China.

Recording Engineer: Xikun Guo

The inspiration for "Playground" comes from an experience of survival senses in an alienated space. Imagine walking into an amusement park where all the rides are present but distorted in shape and altered in operation: the bouncy castles are as hard as granite, the roller coasters are suspended above the tracks, and the pirate ships hang upside down in mid-air... If we are told or forced by some external power to complete these amusement activities, knowing their abnormal state yet compelling ourselves to treat them as usual and immerse ourselves in them, we will undergo tremendous alienation of body and mind; this alienation would leave a person's body and mind scarred. When such alienation is finally accepted, and at that moment, we look at the prominent characters of "Playground" on the amusement park gate and smile, how should this "smile" be interpreted and defined? What is the meaning of its existence?

Score Purchase: https://www.babelscores.com/catalogs/instrumental/9149-playground9149

Cover photo © Sopor Aeternus