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)

Noriko Miura : Fall
(OISHI Masanori/saxophone)

The piece’s title, “Fall” which has the meaning of “falling” “fallen leaves” or “autumn” is taken from a poem by Ryuichi Tamura. Mr. Tamura tells us that just as the leaves of a tree fall to the soil and eventually return to the color of the soil, our souls should also fall toward the horizon at night, trembling in the sunset. A world of sleep where all living things fall. Due to the providence of nature, which humans cannot fathom, the leaves of the trees suddenly fall.
This work is composed of repetitions and combinations of fragmentary motifs representing the swaying of leaves (or the trembling of our souls), dancing, falling, sleep, etc., but it is random and improvised. When I suddenly looked around, I saw that the soil had turned to asphalt, and the leaves of the trees had lost their soil and turned into garbage. So, in modern times, does the world of sleep that Tamura speaks of to which we should return really exist? (Noriko Miura)

Andrzej Karałow : Florenscene
(HOKAMURA Risa/violin, MIZUNO Yuya/cello, YAMAMOTO Junko/piano)

Florescence was created in 2018 for the LABO workshops in Montreal, during which the premiere also took place. The narrative of the composition develops organically, i.e. its entire musical structure grows from the source – the initial sounds, one idea, naturally, like a plant. The structure is based on aleatoric segments but governed by specific rules. Individual parts/instruments, approached linearly, constitute uniform sonoristic and melodic structures. In order to create a coherent sound ‘organism,’ it is important to integrate them in a colour context based on a synesthetic system of pitch. The formal – but also based on synesthetic associations – draft of the composition was created in the form of a digital artwork. (Andrzej Karałow)

Sorry, this entry is only available in Japanese.

Sorry, this entry is only available in Japanese.

Märt-Matis Lill : My Weeping Voice Is the Wind of Autumn
(Mario CAROLI/flute, UEDA Nozomi/clarinet, KASAI Tomoko/percussion, OYA Saori/piano, HEMMI Yasutaka/violin, MIZUNO Yuya/cello)

For a long time, I have been interested in something that could be called an opposition between the objective and the subjective in music as well as in art in general. I used to prefer more objective or distant ways of expression in my creative practice, but lately I have been enjoying the idea of incorporating a more intimate and emotional approach. I see the conflict and concordance between these two opposites as similar to the relation between nature and man. I draw inspiration from classical Asian poetry which deals extensively with the relation of nature and man. The title of my work is taken from one such poem:
Shake oh tomb! My weeping voice is the wind of autumn.
This haiku, considered one of the most powerful in Japanese literature, was written by Basho after the shocking and untimely death of his closest friend. Hence the unusually emotional style, where nature and man (the objective and the subjective) are joined in a unique and expressive way, unprecedented in haiku tradition. I tried to convey this interconnectedness in my music. I wrote this piece while thinking of two young musicians whose trip to Finland in autumn 2005 ended at the bottom of the sea.” (Märt-Matis Lill)

Justė Janulytė : Aria
(Quartet Integra)

The form of „Aria“ for string quartet (2008) resembles roaming through a labyrinth constructed from a short melody which is being continuously defragmented changing the order of its phrases thus complicating more and more the possibility of reaching the exit until a sort of a solution is found while returning back to the starting point. The piece was commissioned by the Thomas Mann festival in Nida (LT) and written for Kaunas string quartet. First performance: Thomas Mann festival, Nida (LT) | 12th of July 2008 (Justė Janulytė)

Hristina Šušak : Wind of Fuji
(TAJIMA Tadashi/shakuhachi, SUZUKI Tosiya/recorder)

When I was in Japan in December last year, I was very inspired by the culture and atmosphere. Exactly during this trip I got the idea for this piece called Winds of Fuji. Although I didn’t visit Fuji the whole atmosphere in Japan inspired me and gave an image and sound in my head. The piece is based on the motif of a small third (interval) which is being elaborated in many ways using several playing techniques and musical parameters. The intensity regarding all present musical materials is changing constantly without some particular (for us) noticable rules, just like wind. (Hristina Šušak)

Naoki Sakata : Invisible River
UENO Yoshie/flute, UEDA Nozomi/clarinet, KASAI Tomoko/percussion, Quartet Integra)

As the title “Invisible river” suggests, this piece is composed of textures reminiscent of fluids. At the same time, I treated the gap in the time and space as the important materiel with the Japanese concept “Ma”. As a result, silence and tranquil textures are inserted from the middle of the piece onward. Inspiration from the shakuhachi played an important role in the composition process. For example, the music of the shakuhachi is formed by a variety of wavering sounds such as “yuri” and “korokoro. In addition, the “one sound” played by this instrument is a very complex mixture of pitched sound and breath noise. Thus, this work is constructed by various fluctuating effect and complex sound. Because of the pursuit the instrumental technique for this theme, the piece includes a scene in which the strings are played with wooden sticks. The use of sticks coated with rosin allows a delicate organization of noise and musical sounds. (Naoki Sakata)

Toshio Hosokawa : Extasis
(MOHRI Fumika/violin)

This work was composed from the end of 2015 to early 2016 for Sayaka Shoji. To me, the primitive form of music is in Shamanism. In order to pray, from this world to the other world, Shamans will communicate with a world we cannot see in our daily lives through singing. The appearance of Sayaka Shoji performing the violin as a solo, for me, is the form of a Miko. She uses the violin as an extension of her own voice (song), and by trying to be united with the immense energy of the universe flowing within and outside of her, she sings. Exstasis means to go beyond oneself. It is the desire to leave the order of the ordinary life; it is to leave from the ego, and also an uncontainable impulsive greed to the depth of a figure (chaos) like a bottomless swamp. From the player (miko) to the space and to the void, the sound of the violin has brush stroke-like shapes of an eastern calligraphy. The piece was revised by the composer in 2020. (Toshio Hosokawa)

Toshio Hosokawa : Klänge von Lethe
(UENO Yoshie/flute, OKAMOTO Yuya/cello, KITAMURA Tomoki/piano)

This work was composed for the trio of Emmanuel Pahud (flute), Jean-Guihen Queyras (violoncello), and Eric Le Sage (piano), and is related to The Water of Lethe for piano quartet composed in 2015. I believe the act of composition is to listen to the “river of sounds” that is always flowing in our cosmos, and write them down on music following my own method. It is said that the ancient Greek believed, for the reincarnation of their souls, they would be forced to drink the water of Lethe after death in order to erase their memories of previous lives. The quiet flow of river Lethe, which is for forgetting the deep sorrows and sins of this world, stimulates my imagination. The flow of the river teaches us that the time constantly passes by without pause, and at the same time teaches us that new time is constantly created. The sorrow of passing by and the hope of being newly regenerated exist together there. From Alphonse de Lamartine Le Vallon J’ai trop vu, trop senti, trop aimé dans ma vie; Je viens chercher vivant le calme du Léthé. (I have seen much, felt much, loved much in my life; And, still living, come to seek the calmness of Lethe.) (Toshio Hosokawa)

Toshio Hosokawa : Drei Engel-Lieder
(Ilse EERENS/soprano, YOSHINO Naoko/harp)

Angels exist between this world and a world beyond this world that cannot be seen. They are the messengers who let us see a glimpse of the other world. In recent years, I have become interested in shamanism and have composed music where the musicians assume the role of shamans who let us see the world beyond this world through the use of sound. In this work, the soprano plays the role of both an angel and a shaman (miko). The texts I’ve chosen are by a female Jewish German poet, Else Lasker-Schüler, and a Jewish philosopher, Gershom Scholem. (Toshio Hosokawa)