perf. by Rūta & Zbignevas Ibelhauptas Piano Duo (LT)
Commissioned by the “Warsaw Autumn” foundation

A slow metamorphosis of silence of the falling snow. Alongside it is a metamorphosis of touching the piano; a study of the touches that vibrate the pianos and turn them into long sounding, resonating objects. Thus you realize that the piano keys are like certain magic buttons by which resonating abysses of the piano can be raised. If you succeed in pressing them right, you may hear at least some music of those resonating abysses, meanwhile the sounds of the key attacks are just little iceberg peaks sticking out on the surface.

Desktop

"Silence of the falling Snow" for 2 pianos (2003)

Yu Kuwabara - In Between (2018) for alto saxophone, percussion and prepared piano

Cond. Kento Ishikawa 
Fl.&Picc. Jun Nakamura 
Cl. Soyoka Tanaka 
Perc. Kaoru Tajima 
Koto Azusa Mori 
Vn. Hiwako Yabuki 
Vc. Mano Shimojima

日本の箏と西洋の楽器の音色を融合させることを目指した。ビオラをギターピックで弾いたり、ピッコロで能管のような音を出したり、ティンパニの上にリンを置いて弓で擦ったり、和洋のさまざまな音響を引き出した。

AcculturationⅠ(2021)

2024.09.15 Recorded in Tokyo, Japan
Clarinet, Rio Ishida/石田理雄
Otamatone, Music Box, Yikun Qi/斉芸琨
Percussion, Yujin Honda/本多悠人
Piano, Yui Amano/天野由唯
Conduct, Koga Yano/矢野耕我

私の「ピアノソナタ 第1番」は、恋愛を始める前に書こうと思っていたが、恋愛が始まってから書いて、彼女に献呈した作品だ（2025年2月18日私のピアノリサイタルで初演する予定）。今年は失恋した。そのあとすぐ、佐藤伸輝君からドラムセットとなにかの曲が依頼されて、ピアノとドラムセット(optional)のための「ピアノソナタ 第2番」を考えていた。さらにクラリネットはcrazy、オタマトーンは荒唐で、それらを加えたくて、ならもう「ピアノソナタ」ではなくなって、「Although I intended to write Piano Sonata No.2」になる。

全体的には、提示部、３つの展開部、コーダからなる。
提示部はピアノソロから始まる。譜面ではさまざまな連符が難しく見えるが、それは計算されたものではなく、感覚的に音の長さや一連の音の速さを書いたのだ。バッハの「記譜された装飾音」みたいに、私はそれを「記譜された即興」と呼んだ。音も感覚的に選んで、調性と無調が混ざっている。
第一展開部は第一主題から、私がすでに何作で使った、付点八分音符＝72の3/8拍子に入る。ピアノソナタ第1番の素材を引用して、同音連打の動機を発展させた。それからは花束の図形楽譜。
第二展開部はポップスの和音進行、4536251とそのさまざまな変形。非常に美しい部分。カプースチンの作品でよくある、変わらない拍子記号の中の変拍子を使った。
第三展開部はピアノパートのラフマニノフのピアノ協奏曲第2番の引用とほかの楽器の曲線による即興演奏、それから狂乱のクライマックス。
コーダはMusic Boxの部分。作曲中、私の祖母が病気になって亡くなった。そのあと、帰り道で、最初の4小節が浮かんだ。

「荒唐、虚無、甘美、そして非常に難しい」。それは曲ができたら私が書いた言葉。そして、私の音楽の新ロマン主義を見つけた。


My Piano Sonata No. 1 was something I intended to write before falling in love, and I composed it after that and dedicated it to her. I will premiere it at my piano recital on February 18, 2025. We broke up this year. Shortly after, Nobuaki Satoh commissioned me to write a piece for drum set and some other instruments. Initially, I thought of Piano Sonata No. 2 for piano and an optional drum set. However, I wanted to add a clarinet (which I consider "crazy") and an Otamatone (which I describe as "absurd"). Then, it was no longer a "Piano Sonata," so it became Although I intended to write Piano Sonata No. 2.

The overall structure consists of an exposition, three development sections, and a coda.
The exposition starts with a piano solo. The score looks difficult because of various unusual tuplets, but they are not mathematically calculated. Instead, I intuitively wrote the note lengths and the speed of a sequence of notes. Like Bach’s "notated ornaments", I called this "notated improvisation." The pitches were chosen intuitively, blending tonality and atonality.
The first development section transitions into a 3/8 meter at a dotted eighth note = 72, a tempo I had used in several past works. It incorporates material from Piano Sonata No. 1 and I developd the motif of repeated notes. Then there are bouquet-shaped graphic scores.
The second development section uses pop chord progressions,  4-5-3-6-2-5-1, and its variations. This section is particularly beautiful, featuring irregular meter while maintaining a consistent time signature—a technique often used in Kapustin’s works.
The third development section includes a quote from Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in the piano part, improvisations based on curves in the other parts, and a crazy climax.
The coda is a "music box" section. While composing this piece, my grandmother became ill and passed away. After that, on my way home, the initial four measures came to me.

"Absurd, meaningless, sweet, and extremely difficult"—those were the words I wrote after completing the piece. Through this work, I discovered neo-Romanticism in my music.

Yikun Qi - Although I intended to write Piano Sonata No.2 (2024)

NEWLY UPDATED RECORDING!!  The full concerto, performed by Solungga Liu with the IU New Music Ensemble under David Dzubay.

0:00  Intro
1:40   Tango
5:18   Cortina I
7:22   Vals
10:20  Cortina II
13:38  Milonga

Concierto De Milonga (2015)

Written for Goska Isphording&Maciej Frąckiewicz and commissioned by the Musical Aspiration Foundation (PL), co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland (programme Composing Commissions, implemented by the Institute of Music and Dance) with the support of the Lithuanian Composers’ Union.

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

At van Abbe Eindhoven

"Harp is a Chord" for harpsichord and accordion (2016)

『チョコレート』
オーケストラ

Noriko_Koide

ChOcoLAtE

桑原ゆう｜柄と地、絵と余白、あるいは表と裏 (2018) 三味線独奏と7人の奏者のための（抜粋）
影も溜らず ー 淡座リサイタルシリーズ Vol.1 桑原ゆう個展
2019年7月19日 @東京オペラシティ リサイタルホール
演奏 | 本條秀慈郎（三味線）、梶川真歩（フルート）、西村薫（クラリネット）、中山航介（打楽器）、大須賀かおり（ピアノ）、三瀬俊吾（ヴァイオリン）、笠川恵（ヴィオラ）、竹本聖子（チェロ）、水戸博之（指揮）
本作品の全録音は、KAIROSよりリリースのアルバム「桑原ゆう：音の声、声の音」でお聴きいただけます：https://save-it.cc/hne/yu-kuwabara-sounded-voice-voiced-sound

Yu Kuwabara | figure and ground, image and margin, obverse and reverse (2018) for solo shamisen and seven musicians (excerpt)
recorded live from Shadowless - Yu Kuwabara Portrait at Tokyo Opera City Recital Hall, Tokyo, Japan on July 19, 2019
performed by Hidejiro Honjoh (solo shamisen), Maho Kajikawa (fl/afl), Kaoru Nishimura (cl/bcl), Kosuke Nakayama (perc), Kaori Osuga (pf), Shungo Mise (vn), Megumi Kasakawa (va), Seiko Takemoto (vc), Hiroyuki Mito (cond)
The full recording of the work can be found on YU KUWABARA: Sounded Voice, Voiced Sound (KAIROS): https://save-it.cc/hne/yu-kuwabara-sounded-voice-voiced-sound

YU KUWABARA: Sounded Voice, Voiced Sound

figure and ground, image and margin, obverse and reverse (2018, expt.) for shamisen and 7 musicians

Beta_for accordion and pedalboard  -   released on CD "Sul Tasto" by Luca Piovesan

http://www.col-legno.com/de/katalog/gesamtverzeichnis/sul_tasto

"Beta" is part of a cycle entitled "Corpo è ferita".

The concept of emersion is at the basis of the sonic development of Beta.  The bellows as a lung distributes the air in the areas of greatest need creating, in this way, shadow zones, of instability.

Beta_Extract_http://www.col-legno.com/de/katalog/gesamtverzeichnis/sul_tasto

Composer, pianist
https://youtube.com/@yikunqi9353

Yikun Qi - Although I intended to write Piano Sonata No.2 (2024)

Yikun Qi

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