Concert Music

Rondo in G major for piano solo.
The score is now under preparation and will be uploaded to IMSLP soon. I would be very happy if you could enjoy my new track!

The picture is from Pixabay, by Lisa_Drummond

Rondo mirage (for piano)

The premiere of a piece I wrote for the Biennial Choral Competition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. This is a setting of Lorca's poem, "Landscape".

Kenji Oh, conductor

Painting by Vincent van Gogh
http://www.navigo.com/wm/paint/auth/gogh/landscapes/gogh.olive-trees.jpg

Landscape (premiere)

FATA MORGANA (2014)
Instrumentation: 6 horns, 4 trumpets, 2 tenor trombones, bass trombone, tuba, 2 percussion

Commissioned by the Tanglewood Music Center

Notes: (adapted from those by Matthew Mendez)

A Fata Morgana is a type of distorted maritime mirage seen just above the horizon.  Named after the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay, these mirages are associated to the distant fairy castles and sirens that would lure sailors to their death.  The idea of these mirages elicits a series of evocative musical effects: the hazy scrim of shimmering vibraphones, menacing trumpet calls conjuring up a sinister version of the first movement of Debussy’s “La Mer”, the labyrinthine structure capturing the sensation of being dangerously off course.

Avoiding the customary grouping by like instruments, FATA MORGANA calls for an untraditional seating arrangement, which facilities strange echo effects and illusory resonances.  With its spare juxtapositions, the music has the flavor of surrealism.  Contrast comes in the guise of a fleeting chorale, distant cousin to Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman”, which contains the most celebrated Fata Morgana in music.

The poetics of the piece create an imaginative world based on man against the elements: the warmth of human presence (the chorale) versus the cold desolation of nature (fanfares).  Here, nature gets the upper hand, with one of the piece’s final features summoning the sound of drowning. 


Fata Morgana (2014) for symphonic brass ensemble

piano(s) + baby monitor(s) on fixed media
san francisco

thanks to Kyle Hovatter for the baby monitor!

8.14.2014 (mikrophonie I)

"Summer Shower" for mixed choir
  I. Humid winds brought a bank of clouds
  II. In cloud shadow, cool winds blow the field of creeping grass
  III. Summer Shower
  IV. Dusk after the Shower
  V. Evening Cicadas

Performed by Choral Chameleon
Vince Peterson, conductor
Kenji Oh, composer

In Choral Chameleon Institute 2014 Closing Concert
On June 20, 2014 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, NY


Text:
II.
よられつる　野もせの草の　かげろいて
涼しくくもる　夕立の空       （西行法師）

Yoraretsuru Nomose-no kusa-no Kageroite
Suzusiku kumoru Yūdachi-no sora    (Saigho-hōshi)

Creeping beds of grass fall into shadow
the summer sky cools and clouds over


IV.  
夕立の　雲も止まらぬ　夏の日の  
かたぶく山に　ひぐらしの声      （式子内親王）

Yūdachino Kumomo tomaranu Natsu-no hino
Katabuku yamani Higurashi-no koe     (Shokushinai-shin'nō)

On a summer day, the clouds are already far away
the voices of evening cicadas from the mountain, where the sun declines


Program note:
   Summer in Japan. The humid air followed by an evening rain which clears up the world… With the two old Japanese tanka poems, the choir blows refreshing winds and cools down and cleanses the air around. The piece starts with forefeel of summer shower. In the second movement, the winds gets stronger, as a bank of clouds gets closer. The third movement cleanses everything. And them, the dusk flows. 
   The choir becomes a chameleon—evoking humid winds, strong winds blowing dense beds of creeping grass, shadows of clouds, rain, and evening cicadas—to capture a summer shower in Japan.


[[Other choir works by Kenji Oh]]
- https://soundcloud.com/kenji/stars-i-have-seen-them-fall (SATB choir with SATB quartet)
- https://soundcloud.com/kenji/the-weeping-pleiads-wester-live (SATB)
- https://soundcloud.com/kenji/o-magnum-mysterium (SATB choir)
- https://soundcloud.com/kenji/jaiken-rock-paper-scissors (SATB choir)

Summer Shower

"Kyrie (dense)" for Mixed Choir

Winner of the American Prize in Choral Composition, 2015 (student)

Finalist piece in the Morton Gould Young Composers Awards, 2015

Performed by Choral Chameleon
Matthew Oltman, conductor
Vince Peterson, director
Kyle Randall, composer

Choral Chameleon Institute 2014 Closing Concert
June 20, 2014 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, NY


Lyrics:

Kyrie eleison        //         Lord have mercy
Christe eleison     //         Christ have mercy
Kyrie eleison        //         Lord have mercy

Kyrie (dense) - from the "New Gothic Mass"

Recording Wakamiya Matsuri @ Kyoto-city Shimogyo-ku

MORE INFO AND SHEET MUSIC HERE: http://jonrussellmusic.com/works/bass-clarinet-concerto/

"FOLLOW-THE-SCORE" VIDEO HERE: https://youtu.be/iDCgkjx1Oq8

Jonathan Russell's Bass Clarinet Concerto, performed by Jonathan Russell and the Princeton University Orchestra, Michael Pratt, conductor.

Bass Clarinet Concerto

The piece illustrates the scene focusing on Mary giving birth. Along with the labor pain, it expresses dignity of mother. The last Alleluja section represents the new born, in a way, us--the world after his arrival
----

Choral Chameleon, Chameleonic
Vince Peterson, conductor

at St. Luke in the Fields, Manhattan
on Dec 12, 2014


Program note
----------------------------
This text about the birth of Jesus Christ is very popular and so many great composers have set music. Because of that, I wanted my O magnum mysterium to have a freshly unique view. I intentionally interpreted the text as non Christian, and I perceived it like a fairy tail or mythology. The most interesting discovery for me was that the core of the story was not the birth of Jesus Christ, but the delivery of Mary, the mother of Jesus. 
I pictured the night in the barn where the animals were calmly breathing in the dusky stillness. The overall tone of the piece is dominated by this atmosphere. The harmonies in this piece are painted with colors from each word, segment, line, stanza and overall atmosphere of the text. The climax of the piece was instantly decided since my O magnum mysterium is about Mary. Besides the beautifully supernatural feeling the story has, I also wanted to express the splendor of maternity, strength of mother, and the pain of labor. I dedicate this piece to my mother, Mariko Iwasaki with sincere love and thanks. 


Text
----------------------------
O magnum mysterium,
et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum,
jacentem in praesepio:
O beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare
Dominum Christum. Alleluia.

English translation:

O great mystery,
and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see the new-born Lord,
lying in a manger!
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear
Christ the Lord. Alleluia!

O Magnum Mysterium

Performance by The Esoterics
Eric Banks, conductor
on Oct 8, 2016
at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, West Seattle, WA

In The Forest for SSAATTBB (2016)
composed by Kenji Oh (b. 1981)
text by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)

----------------
In The Forest

Out of the mid-wood’s twilight
  Into the meadow’s dawn,
Ivory limbed and brown-eyed,
  Flashes my Faun!

He skips through the copses singing,
  And his shadow dances along,
And I know not which I should follow,
  Shadow or Song!

O Hunter, snare me his shadow!
  O Nightingale, catch me his strain!
Else moonstruck with music and madness 
  I track him in vain!

----------------
[Program notes]
  In the scenery of mysterious forest, the piece expresses passion and longing feeling of a heavy affection towards this irresistible half-human-half-animal, that comes with frustration, pain, and melancholy.
  The piece sets a dream-like mood first and emphasizes homoerotic nature of the poem as the tenor section represents the person who has affection towards the faun while the bass section represents the faun.
  The delay effect with shadow-like chasing parts adds a surreal atmosphere of the scene and elusiveness of the subject. The effect is among the compositional decisions reflecting the bilateral character that the poem largely contains. The centered bilateral pair of the composition is anticipation and disappointment of the elusive love. 
  A motif that symbolizes the faun appears at the beginning hummed by bass forming a micro canon in third. The motif flashes back throughout the piece, and finally, tenor concludes the piece by tracing an odd line of it at the end.  (Kenji Oh)

In The Forest

Self Portrait, an homage to Francis Bacon.
Recorded and Premiered at Scholes Street Studio, 4 November 2016. Performed by Adam Robinson (shakuhachi), Humay Gasimzade (string piano), Allyson Clare (prepared viola), Brian Sanders (prepared cello), Emilio Guarino (prepared bass)

For more information, please visit Devon's website, www.greengiraffemusic.info

Tipp - Self Portrait

3 poems from Ogura Hyakunin Isshu (小倉百人一首) - One Hundred Tanka Poems by One Hundred Celebrated Poets.

 I.	夏の夜は まだ宵ながら 明けぬるを 雲のいづこに 月宿るらむ (清原深養父)
Natsuno-yowa Mada-yoinagara Akenuruwo	Kumono-izukoni Tsuki-yadoruramu (Author: KIYOHARANO Fukayabu)

II.	月見れば ちぢにものこそ 悲しけれ わが身ひとつの 秋にはあらねど (大江千里) Tsuki-mireba Chijinimonokoso Kanashikere Wagami-hitotsuno Akiniwa-aranedo
(Author: OHENO Chisato)

III. 嘆けとて 月やはものを 思はする かこち顔なる わが涙かな (西行法師) Nageketote Tsukiyawa-monowo Omowasuru Kakochigaonaru Waga-namidakana
(Author: Saigyo-houshi)

Modern Japanese translation
I. 夏の夜は短く、まだ宵のうちと思っているうちに明けてしまったが、西の山にかくれるひまもない月 は、いったい雲のどの辺に宿っているのかなあ。
II.月を見ると、ただもうもの悲しくてならない。秋はわたし一人の所にきたわけではないのだが。 III.なげけといって、月がわたしにもの思いをさせるのであろうか。いやそうではない
が、いかにも月のせいにするようなわたしの涙だなあ。

English translation
 I.	On short summer nights, the days dawn before it knows,
wondering where the moon is in the clouds. It hasn't had time to hide in the mountains.

II. Looking at the moon, only sadness to be felt. Autumn never comes only for myself.

III. Does the moon tell me to shed tears? Still, my eyes are brimming with tears as if it was because of the moon.

Tsuki no Uta (Song of the Moon)

Anne Hepburn Smith, soprano
Kevin Korth, piano

 * * * * *
Although the title itself projects a happy and active tone, I perceived almost the opposite. For me, what Lorca draws here is a garden in the night by sketching a guitar with his words. Not six gypsy girls actually dancing. The poem produces a beautiful atmosphere of the garden while night falls.

Each image metaphorically describes some part of the guitar. For example, the six gypsy girls are a metaphor for the six strings of the guitar. I hear someone beautifully yet melancholily playing guitar in the garden as the day declines. It was natural for me to utilize guitar tuning to construct harmonies of this piece.

The same phrase, “In the night of the garden,” is repeated three times giving unity to the stanzas. These phrases are sung a half step higher each time “as their shadows grow long.”
 * * * * *

Dance by Federico García Lorca

In the night of the garden 
dressed in white
dance six gypsy girls.

In the night of the garden
they write on charred shadows 
with teeth of mother of pearl.

And in the night of the garden,
with paper roses and jasmine crowns 
they touch the sky with purple
as their shadows grow long.

Dance -in the night of the garden-  for soprano and piano

"under a gray sky, the breath of the wind caresses the silky surface of the lake" is the first movement from the set of symphonic poems I am currently working on, capturing sceneries with wind. In this short movement, I tried to capture interaction between the surface of the lake and the wind; their stillness to activeness. The piece starts calmly and keeps its stillness. Gentle winds, sparkles, reflection on the surface of the lake are heard over the stillness. At the climax, the wind blows lively and the surface of the lake is not silky anymore and it's riffled, and the blue sky makes an appearance. The lake regains its stillness at the end.

Kenji Oh
Apr 20, 2013

=====[ Performance info ]=====
SFCM New Music Ensemble

Nicole Paiement, conductor
Christy Kim, flute
Marcus Phillips, oboe
Lara Mitofsky Neuss, clarinet
Alexis Luque Montes, bassoon
Jason Oelmann, horn
Shan Huang, trumpet
James Ginn, trombone
Divesh Kramchandani and Stephanie Webster, percussion
Carla Fabris, harp
Zach Miley and Llowyn Ball, violin
Ivo Bokulic, viola
Isaac Pastor-Chermak, cello
James Schulz, double bass

Apr 16, 2013 at SFCM Caroline H. Hume Concert Hall

photo by Donna62 http://www.flickr.com/photos/disneyite/

under a gray sky, the breath of the wind caresses the silky surface of the lake

a picture book of voices.


Premiered on June 11, 2013, in Brooklyn, NY
Choral Chameleon
Vince Peterson, conductor

Text by A. E. Houseman

Stars, I have seen them fall,
   But when they drop and die
No star is lost at all
   From all the star-sown sky.
The toil of all that be
   Helps not the primal fault;
It rains into the sea
   And still the sea is salt.


**Program note**
This poem by Alfred Edward Housman(1859-1936) conveys a feeling of helplessness and emptiness with vivid visual images in a pessimistic tone. Because the images are so vivid and beautiful, they make a strong contrast with the poem’s message and tone. And the strong contrast makes the images more beautiful, the message indomitable. I tried to enhance this mutual effect by highlighting those beautiful images and underlining the shadow behind the images. Though my initial impression of the poem was pessimistic beauty, I still see its optimistic side as well. Even while no star is lost at all, we wouldn’t prefer starless dark sky anyway. Even while still the sea is salt, salty ocean is the origin of lives. Houseman left this optimistic possibility and it makes the poem ambiguous, and the ambiguity makes the poem even more beautiful. The harmonic language in this piece has reflection of this ambiguity.

O Magnum Mysterium

Kenji Oh, composer

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