The Starry Night (for Concert Percussion Ensemble)

“The Starry Night”

This piece was inspired by the iconic painting The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, created in 1889. Van Gogh painted it while he was staying at the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum, shortly after the incident in which he cut off his left ear.

It’s believed that the painting captures the view from the window of his room at the asylum. In fact, during his time there, he created a total of 21 paintings—each depicting different moments, different weathers, both day and night.

The Starry Night was painted with oil on canvas. The colors were applied straight from the tube and spread directly onto the canvas, creating a dreamy, almost surreal effect. If you look closely at the sky, you can feel the swirling, restless energy—it’s as if the stars are in constant motion, on the verge of explosion. In contrast, the village below appears peaceful and serene.

On the left side of the painting, a large tree stretches upward, bridging the sky and the earth. This is a cypress tree, often associated with cemeteries and mourning—an element open to many interpretations.

At that time, Van Gogh’s mental state was extremely fragile—chaotic, confused, and turbulent. I wanted to express this emotional complexity in a musical form, as I understood it.

That’s why I composed this piece with intentional dissonance—layers of rhythm flowing over and against each other, creating a kind of beautiful disorder, much like the painting itself. I chose a percussion ensemble as the medium because percussion is uniquely capable of conveying complex, conflicting rhythms while still retaining beauty and harmony.