Noriko Miura : Fall
(OISHI Masanori/saxophone)

KINOSHITA Masamichi : Terre anonyme/ Oiseau anonyme II
(KASAI Tomoko/percussion, MATSUMURA Takayo/harp)

The title was inspired by the poetry of Edmond Jabès, an Egyptian-born Jewish poet who wrote in French, especially his last work, “The Book of Hospitality”.
Now, about 80% of this piece is made up of quotations from other composer’s works (Jabès’s words often hint at “quotations” as well). They come in three forms: those that are obvious and easy to understand, those that have been modified and are somewhat difficult to hear, and those that are no longer integrated with the structure of the piece and are almost unnoticeable. These activities persist through various “strategies”, sometimes inspiring each other, sometimes nesting inside each other, sometimes feeding on each other, sometimes ignoring each other, and even undergoing unexpected transformations. In the field where the sound is produced, the performer’s unique physicality and spatiality are taken into account, and it emerges as an “anonymous sound field” and is once again promoted as “music”. As a composer, I would be happy if I could hear even the slightest part of the “shadow” in which these sounds were chosen, the slight fluctuations of that part. (KINOSHITA Masamichi)

KINOSHITA Masamichi : Terre anonyme/ Oiseau anonyme II
(KASAI Tomoko/percussion, MATSUMURA Takayo/harp)

The title was inspired by the poetry of Edmond Jabès, an Egyptian-born Jewish poet who wrote in French, especially his last work, “The Book of Hospitality”.
Now, about 80% of this piece is made up of quotations from other composer’s works (Jabès’s words often hint at “quotations” as well). They come in three forms: those that are obvious and easy to understand, those that have been modified and are somewhat difficult to hear, and those that are no longer integrated with the structure of the piece and are almost unnoticeable. These activities persist through various “strategies”, sometimes inspiring each other, sometimes nesting inside each other, sometimes feeding on each other, sometimes ignoring each other, and even undergoing unexpected transformations. In the field where the sound is produced, the performer’s unique physicality and spatiality are taken into account, and it emerges as an “anonymous sound field” and is once again promoted as “music”. As a composer, I would be happy if I could hear even the slightest part of the “shadow” in which these sounds were chosen, the slight fluctuations of that part. (KINOSHITA Masamichi)

Justė Janulytė : Harp is a chord
(SUZUKI Masato/harpsichord,OTA Tomomi/accordion)

In this piece two instruments of a very different or even opposite origin and acoustic nature are melted into a monolithic “monochrome” mechanism, as if constructing a utopian instrument with characteristics of the harpsichord and accordion. The idea of such composition came from a play on words, only changing a sequence of letters in an English name of the harpsichord: harpSIchord – harpISchord. “Harp” is being read as an arpeggio (e.g. a technique asking to play chord notes in succession upwards or downwards), while “chord” is perceived as a synchronous entrance of all the chord sounds together. In this piece the two indivisible phases of sound – sound attack and resonance – are being separated in a sense of timbre. The first one is obviously assigned to the harpsichord, which naturally has almost no resonance, and the second one clearly belongs to the accordion, dynamically raising sounds from the silence. By the way, the principle of duality/opposites is expressed also through a special use of double keyboards which both instruments have whilst the diatonic white-keys harmony comes from the “eolian (wind) harp” sound. (Justė Janulytė)

Toshio Hosokawa : Three Love Songs
(Ilse EERENS/sopurano, OISHI Masanori/saxophone, KASAI Tomoko/percussion)

This work was commissioned by the government of France, and is dedicated to its first performers, Mari Kobayashi (voice) and Claude Delangle (saxophone). The text is based on three waka poems of Izumishikibu, a poet of the Imperial Court in the Heian Era.
I. kuraki yori
Oh, Moon on the mountain ridge, shine
your light on one such as me. (Composed when the poet was 16 or 17 years old.)
kuraki michi ni zo irinubeki
haruka ni terase yama no ha no tsuki
-from the Shuishu-
Ever since I was young, I’ve been traveling a dark road.
(Translation)
II. arazaramu
kono yo no hoka no
omoide ni
ima hitotabi no
aukoto mogana -from the Goshuishu-
(Translation)
My illness gets worse, and my life may not be long. memory to take with me to the other side.
III. mono omoeba sawa no hotaru mo
wagami yori akugare izuru tamaka to zo miru
(Translation)
Lost in vague thoughts.
from me?
Four handbells are needed for Part III. To the extent possible, the pitch of each bell should differ slightly, yet it is desirable for the pitch to be nearly the same for all.
Commissioned by
Ministère de la Culture (France)
Fireflies blinking at the water’s edge.
Is that my soul I see stealing away
I want one more meeting with you, one more (Toshio Hosokawa)

Nana Kamiyama : Mirage over the ancient forest under the sea
(HEMMI Yasutaka/violin, MATSUMURA Takayo/harp)

About 90 kilometers from my workplace in Kanazawa, I drove towards the Sea of Japan. It’s said that in the bay where I arrived lies a primeval forest from two thousand years ago, deep beneath the sea floor. The twisted tree roots remain, perhaps now serving as beds for deep-sea fish. Separated by the surface of the sea, it’s said that one can see a mirage, with the elongated shapes of a city towering high. Alone, I stood on the bright sandy beach, reminiscing about stories of firefly squids washing ashore. On moonless nights, the dark beach is said to glow pale blue. I’ve always wanted to witness such a scene, but I didn’t have much time left. As I was about to leave the beach, a gleaming fragment containing luminous minerals caught my eye. “Ah, a shard of jade,” I intuitively thought. Drawing close and picking it up, I held it up to the sun to examine the crystals and noticed a mirage appearing in my line of sight. A beautiful scene, it was an illusion. The once vast beech forest; echoes of life. At the ends of those tree branches, birds were singing. Wait, was I once such a bird? Do you still remember such distant memories, I wonder? (Nana Kamiyama)

Isamu Kanai : FIELD
(YAMAMOTO Junko/piano)

The title is borrowed from the trend in abstract painting known as “Color Field Painting,” which involves creating a “field” of colors on a large canvas. I feel that the piano is a “Gigantic Resonator”. In my imagination, the depth of sound emitted by piano intersects with the expansiveness expressed through colors. These shared elements inspired me to explore the emergence of a new “FIELD” of sound. (Isamu Kanai)

Hristina Šušak : Affectus I
(UEDA Nozomi/clarinet, HEMMI Yasutaka/violin)

In Affectus I as well as in other Affectus pieces (Affectus I, II, III and IV) I use very reduced spectrum of music material; in fact, only two kind of sound: downward glissando and percussive element. These two I combine in an unpredictable way, using contrasts in dynamics and length, like an affectus. I also try to gain some kind of homogeneity (as well as in my music in general) for example, using the same kind of sound in both instruments simultaneously, adjusting their playing techniques, but with complementary rhythm – what creates some form of what I call sound mass in the end effect. (Hristina Šušak)

Naoki Sakata : Candela
(UEDA Nozomi/clarinet)

The title “Candela” is a unit of luminous intensity. As the title suggests, the work is colored with various images of light, from a flashing sound in high register to a obscure effect by delicate multiphonics. The word “candela” is derived from the word “candle,” and the music also projects figures related to fire. For example, the piece makes extensive use of sound materials with “continuous and rapid sound fluctuations,” such as trills and frequency beat by multiphonics, which evoke the flickering of fire. The work is composed of three parts: fast, slow, and fast. In the first part, a variety of movements are derived from a fire-tip-like sound pattern that repeatedly rises, and irregular textures are woven together. Second part is based on delicate sounds such as the weak mulciphonics. Third part is composed with dynamic texture. Here, double trills with special fingerings create a sound image like a glowing flame. (Naoki Sakata)

Hinako Takagi : Reflection of Heaven
(SUZUKI Tosiya/recorder, TAJIMA Tadashi/shakuhachi)

The term “heaven’s reflection” is used by Yoshikawa to express the connection between the order of the world and one’s own existence in the collection of conversations between philosopher Keiji Nishitani and Chinese literary scholar Kojiro Yoshikawa, “This Eternal Thing.” It is something. Even in the midst of modern science and the rapidly changing order of things, we feel a deep connection with heaven. Or, there are quite a few situations where you want it. What kind of reflection does the modern order have on us today? I composed this piece while thinking about the relationship between heaven and humans that has continued since ancient times, and its changes. (Hinako Takagi)