武満徹作曲賞/Toru Takemitsu Composition Award

Phenomenon for Orchestra

Chopin’s rubato—a suspension, or musical sigh—is one of his greatest secrets, the essence of his compositional style. After almost two centuries, I look at his rubato with respect and admiration, through I am also aware it is a view from far away. That such it was, the music will never be, and cannot be. It is true that people remain the same, experiencing similar emotions, but life today goes many times faster. Today, there is often no time for reflection: we experience emotions in a nervous hurry, under pressure from the sheer volume of subsequent events. The idea of rubato is gone.

The work was premiered on 26 May 2013 at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, Takemitsu Memorial.

Sighs (2008-2010, rev. 2012)

Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra
Yannick Mayaud, direction

Bogossitude II (2024)

pour ensemble et dispositif électronique

Ensemble NEXT
Flavien Boy, direction

Whammy (2024-25)

Awakenings

<INSTRUMENTATION>
Cl,Trb,Pf,Vn,Vc,Cb.

<PROGRAM NOTE>
When watching out woods, columns, furnitures and chairs of wooden carefully, we can find various unique concentric designs on surfaces. These are called “Growth ring”. Through trees grow gradually through repeated cell division, the differences in growth rates due to seasonal changes emerge as ‘design’ per a year which consisted by countless points. These designs are not simply drawn once per year cycle but change due to factors which weather conditions, growth environments, and terrain changes at the time. By the way, “Growth ring” are called “Nen-Rin” in Japanese. Each word means “year”(Nen) and “ring”(Rin), respectively. In Japanese, “Nen-Rin” are sometimes used as a metaphor for life experiences, and Japanese sometimes overlaps one's life with Growth ring. In this piece, inspired by them, I composed the virtual growth rings by six instruments through musical elements; especially points, lines, and various timbres. However, this piece is not simply a description of the formation of rings. I also refer from visual elements (e.g.when gazing at pattern for a long time, one's awareness gradually shifts to the fine points), and the processes of recalling memories. From the two aspects of “Nen-Rin”— as a recorded medium and as a design(brought by musical elements), I would express my own vision of growth ring onto music. 

1,000,000hours in Columns for Ensemble

『チョコレート』
オーケストラ

Noriko_Koide

ChOcoLAtE

Arlene Sierra: Aquilo for Orchestra (2001)
performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Jac Van Steen, conductor
www.arlenesierra.com
www.bridgerecords.com

SIERRA: Aquilo (Bridge CD clip)

Pagan II (1996)  	 	

12 mins. for orchestra (3 picc.3.3.3 - 4.3.3.1 - piano, percussion (5) - 16.14.12.10.8)  
First performed by the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Naohiro Totsuka, Tokyo City Opera Concert Hall Tokyo, November 1997. 

A BBC Radio 3 broadcast with the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies followed in February 2000 (this recording).     

For me, Pagan II is undoubtedly the most frightening, austere work I have ever composed. It is a personal glimpse into the abyss. The music has a ritualistic feel to it, as if some huge arcane and barbaric ceremony was being witnessed, and the participants of the ceremony were being, in turn, entranced through hypnotic 'dance', and brutalised through music which is violent, both rhythmically and harmonically. Pagan II is not intended to be a desolate pronouncement on our future, rather a glimpse of the unthinkable. Both Pagan I and II can be performed as a complete work. 

PAGAN II (for orchestra (1996)

Fantasia on a Theme of Vaughan Williams – orchestral piece. Awarded 2004 Toru Takemitsu Prize

Sighs (2008-2010, rev. 2012)

Marcin Stanczyk