for the centenary celebrations of Conservatoire de Fontainebleau
performed at Merkin Hall, Lincoln Centern, New York City by:
I. B. Kucukdogan (violin)
Carol McGonnell (bass clarinet)
M. Cetiz (piano)

Shades of Twilight (2022) for violin, bass-clarinet, and piano

Quatuor Diotima
Yun-Peng Zhao, Constance Ronzatti, violin 
Franck Chevalier, viola
Pierre Morlet, violoncello
    
Recorded on February 22, 2020
Sinquefield Music Center, University of Missouri-Columbia
Recording by David Myers; Edited, mixed and mastered by Yoshiaki Onishi

=======

“History really is a ‘process without a Subject or Goal(s)’… History therefore does not have a subject, in the philosophical sense of the term, but a motor…” – Louis Althusser, Remark on the Category: “Process without a Subject or Goal(s)” in Reply to John Lewis (1973)

Over the past decade, I have become interested in transforming identities of instruments over time; for example, I may assign a bass instrument to play nothing but high pitches—higher than some of the soprano instruments—causing cognitive dissonance. My interest in instrumental identities has become more pronounced with my recent experience of living in Japan for two years where, having lived in the United States for nearly twenty years, I experienced a reverse culture shock, a kind of struggle others in Japan could not easily see or understand because I, after all, appeared just like them, and the cultural code there obliged specific kinds of manners. In my Second String Quartet, my initial interest was to cause senses of heterogeneity within the homogeneous instrumental formation by highlighting a distinct instrumental identity as demonstrated by each of the four instruments. That element is still there; however, ever since I came across the aforementioned passage by Althusser, I could not help but think more about how such a homogeneous-heterogeneous relationship would be perceived in the context of a piece of music. Whether to believe in Althusser’s writing or not, what I sense from his passage is the deliberate distancing from progress as the necessary factor in the unfolding of time. In this “Original Version” of the String Quartet, I reflected on Althusser’s notion by drastically slowing the speed of musical materials’ development, and unfolding the music in a spiral manner where, in each iteration, there are phenomena that remain identical, but also there are things that subtly change. Or such changes might not be perceivable at all. String Quartet No. 2 is written for Quatuor Diotima in my deep gratitude for a decade-long friendship. This piece was made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation.

String Quartet No. 2 (2019-20), original version

A meditative immersion into the depths of rivers and lakes, with sounds from hydrophones and a synth instrument. Sounds recorded with the MAGMA hydrophone created by Jorge Barco at the Maas and Jekker rivers in Maastricht and at Lake Como in Italy, and melody played with the Omniphone created by Arvid&Marie.

Lagos Y Ríos De Energía Ondulante

closure/completion

There will be track art later but I feel really excited to finally get this out. i've been working on this piece on and off for 2 years and I think its the best electronic piece I've made so far. I think I'm starting to find my production style here :)

-Commentary-
This piece is a reimagining of Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D as a Party song. I took inspiration from F-777, specifically the "Let's Freaking Party" album. I use three important motives from that piece and morph them into something completely different, but still reminiscent. The motives in question are the opening of the toccata, the theme of the fugue, and the top voice from the first sequence in the fugue. The year in the title is the furthest back estimate to when this piece may have been composed. the range is huge so I wasn't sure what year to pick. I decided the edges should probably be more recognizable vs leaning further into the pun with 1799.

Party like its 1705

after Conlon, Carson, Nederland, Nederland, etc�

--

commissioned | Het Orgelpark
for | The Busy Drone, mechanical and midi-controlled barrel organ
premiered | Het Orgelpark, October 27, 2023
photo | Julia Bovee <3

The Busy Drone Barrel Organ | To Make a Joyful Noise

intus, ergo foris (within, hence outward) 
for chamber orchestra

Talea Ensemble

Conductor: David Fulmer

Audio:  George Katehis

Elebash Hall - Graduate Center, May 8.

intus ergo foris - for chamber orchestra

Santiago Beis Spletna

wolfram schurig - konzert für violine und 19 instrumente
ivana pristasova-vl/PHACE/joe trafton-dir

konzert für violine und 19 instrumente

texte: daniela danz
agata zubel - sopran
klangforum wien
johannes kalitzke - dirigent

fünf ostinati für sopran und 14 instrumente

Collegium Novum Zürich
Emilio Pomàrico, Dirigent

Mitschnitt einer Aufführung vom 30. Oktober 2018 in der Tonhalle Maag, Zürich.

Tonmeister: Leandro Gianini

Emmanuel Nunes (1941 – 2012): "Un calendrier révolu" für Ensemble (1968)

Yoshiaki Onishi is a Japanese-American composer, conductor, and clarinetist. As a composer, he is interested in exploring a wide range of instrumental timbres and finding ways to incorporate them in musical syntaxes and forms that disrupt the sense of expectation. He has worked on commissions that have come from such festivals and organizations as Klangwerkstatt Berlin, Philharmonie Luxembourg, Takefu International Music Festival, and Gaudeamus Muziekweek, and his music has been performed by ensembles worldwide, including New Japan Philharmonic, Asko|Schönberg Ensemble, Klangforum Wien, Nieuw Ensemble, Distractfold Ensemble, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Quatuor Diotima and JACK Quartet. He is the recipient of the 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2018 Fromm Commission, and the Gaudeamus Prize 2011. Edition Gravis in Berlin, Germany publishes his music. As a conductor deeply engaged in promoting the music of today, he is Co-Director for the Mizzou New Music Ensemble and was one of the founding members of Ensemble Exophonie Tokyo. Other ensembles he has worked with as a conductor include Nieuw Ensemble of Amsterdam, ECCE Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Columbia University Orchestra and the University Philharmonic Orchestra of the University of Missouri. Increasingly active as a clarinetist and improviser, he has collaborated with composers George Lewis, Carolina Heredia, Oswald Huỳnh, Bret Bohman, and Andrew Crossley. Together with Santiago Beis, he plays in the Onishi-Beis Duo, an electroacoustic improvisation duo. Onishi received his doctorate in music composition from Columbia University in 2015. He is currently Assistant Professor of Music Composition at the University of Delaware School of Music. 

Profile Photo © 2015 by Stefaren.

String Quartet No. 2 (2019-20), original version

Yoshiaki Onishi

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