HONG KONG, August 9, 2016 — Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth") is widely regarded as the composer's greatest masterpiece. While the work is set to Western classical music, its roots can be traced back to ancient Chinese poems.

Written in the wake of personal events that shook the foundations of Mahler's life in 1907, the piece not only reflected the composer's state of mind at the time but also represented an example of east-west cultural exchange. Mahler was taken by the beauty and ephemerality expressed in the verses contained in Hans Bethge's Die chinesische Flöte, a volume of ancient Chinese poetry rendered into German, and he eventually chose seven of the poems and set to symphonic work as Das Lied von der Erde. 

As a tribute to the late Daniel Ng, the genius behind the cross-cultural project of refitting Das Lied with the original poems of Tang dynasty poets Li Bai, Qian Qi, Meng Haoran and Wang Wei, ASHK collaborated with the newly formed Philharmonia APA and presented Das Lied Revisited on Aug. 9.

Under the baton of Sharon Andrea Choa, mezzo-soprano Ning Liang and tenor Justin Lavender sang the piece in Cantonese for the first time in Hong Kong to a full house at ASHK. "Three years after [Daniel's] passing, somewhere he is smiling that this is the Hong Kong premier of a piece that he is really dedicated much of his life to creating," said Ken Smith, Asia performing arts critic of The Financial Times. 

Ng was a close friend of Asia Society, and despite his passing, his spirit and ideas continued to be a source of inspiration. (1 hr. 45 min.)