《再見小王子》Hi Little Prince

This piece is about reading, and about how imaginative the act of reading can be.

The music follows a main character who wanders through different books: entering one world after another, exploring their imagery and emotions, and enjoying the freedom of imagination they offer. Each section of the piece is inspired by books I read when I was around the age of 15, continuing through my mid-20s, a period when reading played an especially important role in shaping how I understood the world.

Rather than narrating specific stories, the piece reflects the experience of reading itself: curiosity, wonder, humor, tension, loneliness, and reflection. As the character moves from one book to another, reality and imagination begin to blur, much like the feeling of being absorbed in a story and momentarily forgetting the world around you.

The books that inspired this musical journey include The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry; The Building and Toys from the Wesley series by Ni Kuang; Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong; On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami; The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka; and The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.

Together, these works form a landscape of imagination, one where reading is not an escape from reality, but a way of understanding it more deeply. This piece is a reflection on how books open doors to many worlds, and how those worlds continue to shape us long after we close the book.

這首作品是關於閱讀，以及閱讀所帶來的豐富想像力。

音樂描繪一位主角在不同書籍之間遊走的旅程。他走進一個又一個故事世界，沉浸其中的畫面與情感，享受閱讀所帶來的想像自由。作品中的每一段落，皆源自我在約十五歲時開始閱讀的書籍，並一路延續至二十多歲。這段時間的閱讀經驗，深深影響了我理解世界的方式。

作品並非重述書中的情節，而是嘗試捕捉閱讀本身的感受：好奇、驚喜、幽默、不安、孤獨，以及內省。隨著主角在不同書籍之間轉換，現實與想像逐漸交融，正如專注閱讀時，暫時忘卻周遭世界的狀態。

啟發本曲的書籍包括：聖修伯里《小王子》；倪匡「衛斯理系列」中的《大廈》與《玩具》；羅貫中《三國演義》；村上春樹《遇見100%的女孩》、《世界末日與冷酷異境》及《海邊的卡夫卡》；卡夫卡《變形記》；以及海明威《老人與海》。

這些作品共同構成了一片想像的風景。對我而言，閱讀並非逃離現實，而是一種意味深長的理解方式。本曲正是對閱讀如何開啟多重世界，以及這些世界如何在我們闔上書本後，依然持續塑造我們的反思。

Credits & performances

Lyrics and Music by Austin Yip

Commissioned by Hong Kong Schools Music and Speech Association

曲詞　葉浩堃

為無伴奏合唱而寫

香港學校音樂及朗誦協會委約作品