Yu Kuwabara Works

The Little Things

Rasputin- The Little Things

桑原ゆう｜陀羅尼のまにまに (2016) for six musicians
commissioned by ensemble mise-en for MISE-EN MUSIC FESTIVAL 2016
recorded live at the cell on June 22, 2016
premiered by ensemble mise-en｜Kelley Barnett (fl), Vasko Dukovski (bcl), Mark Brochinsky (tb), Yumi Suehiro (pf), Maya Bennardo (vn), Evan Runyon (cb), Moon Young Ha (cond)
score published by Edition Gravis: https://www.editiongravis.de/verlag/product_info.php?info=p2735_Dharani-no-Manimani.html

Dharani no Manimani

Dharani no Manimani (Drifting with Dharani)(2016) for 6 musicians

桑原ゆう｜三つの聲 (2016) for violin, viola, and cello
written as part of Academy Voix Nouvelles 2016 at Fondation Royaumont
recorded live at Abbaye de Royaumont on September 9, 2016
premiered by Talea Ensemble｜Yuki Numata Resnick (violin), Elizabeth Weisser Helgeson (viola), Chris Gross (cello)
The recording+score video is available on the Score Follower channel: https://youtu.be/maphPICGEvQ

Three Voices

Three Voices (2016) for violin, viola, and cello

Yu Kuwabara｜Spiral Mandala -Wind Chant and Night Chant- (2015)(excerpt)
for Shomyo (Japanese Buddhist chant), on traditional poetry of Native Americans
commissioned by and premiered by Shomyo no Kai - Voice of a Thousand Years
recorded live at Spiral Garden, Tokyo, Japan, on January 9 and 10, 2016
I recommend listening to this recording with headphones, earbuds, or earphones!!
The whole recording+score video is available on the Score Follower channel: https://youtu.be/TiN8E2f7J5s
The whole movie of the Spiral Mandala Ceremony: https://youtu.be/pV6SBxcS4D8

桑原ゆう｜螺旋曼荼羅 ー風の歌・夜の歌ー (2015)より抜粋
ネイティヴアメリカン、ナヴァホ族の創生神話より「風の歌」「夜の歌」のテキストによる
スパイラル聲明コンサートシリーズ vol.24「千年の聲」螺旋曼荼羅海会
2016年1月9、10日 @スパイラルガーデン (スパイラルビル1F)
委嘱・出演｜声明の会・千年の聲 (迦陵頻伽聲明研究会と七聲会による)
◆迦陵頻伽聲明研究会 (真言宗豊山派)
新井弘順、平井和成、大平稔雄、川城孝道、斎藤説成、小路耕徳、塚越秀成、塚田康憲、田中康寛、沼尻憲尚、戸部憲海、孤島泰凡、多田康雄、青木亮敬、新井弘賢、中山宥義、堀内明大
◆七聲会 (天台宗) 
末廣正栄、室生述成、玉田法信、杉山幸雄、鈴木亮仁、豊田良栄、宇佐見孝昭、髙栁亮伯、小野常寛 
構成・演出｜田村博巳
録音｜エーアールアイ (ARI)
ぜひヘッドフォンやイヤフォンでお聴きください。

Spiral Mandara

Spiral Mandala (2015, expt.) for Shomyo (Japanese Buddhist chant)

桑原ゆう｜影も溜らず (2017) for solo violin and eight musicians
written for the Composer Seminar of the Lucerne Festival Academy 2017
recorded live at KKL Luzern, Lucerne Hall on August 26, 2017
© Schweizer Radio SRF
premiered by Ensemble of LUCERNE FESTIVAL ALUMNI｜Yutaka Shimoda (solo vn), Raoul Cho (fl), Tomonori Takeda (cl/bcl), Kevin Fairbairn (tb), Bill Solomon (perc), Jian Ren (vn), Alfonso Noriega (va), Simon Thompson (vc), Juan Díaz (cb), Johanna Malangré (cond)

Shadowless

Shadowless (2017) for solo violin and 8 musicians

Yu Kuwabara - Rattling Darkness live at the Lilypad

In the Five of Pentacles, two people walk through the icy wind and snow; both are destitute and living in poverty. One man is injured and on crutches, while the other is barefoot and has only a thin blanket to protect him from the bleak winter weather. Behind them sits a church with its lit up and exuding warmth, a symbol of hope, faith and spiritual support. However, because the two people are so focused on their plight, they fail to see that help is available to them and continue on in their desperate journey.

Five of Pentacles

In a living planet even the stones breathe...

Invisible Traces of Life

The Breathe of a Stone

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

Piano I: Paul Çelebi
Piano II: Olivier Rabu

"Neige" d'Anne Hebert: http://www.barapoemes.net/archives/2016/09/07/34290920.html

Program Note:
Cent traces, sur de vastes plaines was inspired by Anne Hébert's poem "Neige" (snow). Submerged in its poetic image, the music follows its emotional trajectory and attempts to embody it through a language of resonance, harmony, and temporalities. The work was also peripherally influenced by the novel "Kamouraska" by the same author. Both texts depict a wintery dream-scape that devolves into a fever dream peopled with hazy memories. The opening five minutes contain three musical dreams composed using a collection of altered paraphrases from other piano pieces 'about' snow. These quotations appear the way characters in these dreams do: one might have an idea of who they represent from daily life (memory) even if for some reason they do not fully resemble that person. Over the course of the piece the boundaries between dreams erode and the recurring characters' identities become increasingly distorted. Musical memories appear, disappear and intermingle, culminating in a blurred mass and then a rupture.

Commissioned by the Luba Zuk Piano Duo Composition Competition.
Performed November 11th, 2019, Tanna Schulich Hall, McGill.
Composed January-May 2019 (Montreal/Baltimore).

Note de Programme:
Cent traces, sur de vastes plaines est inspiré du poème "Neige" d'Anne Hébert. Submergée dans son image poétique, la musique suit sa trajectoire émotionnelle et tente de l'incarner dans un langage de résonances, d'harmonies, et de temporalités. L'oeuvre a aussi été influencée par le roman "Kamouraska" de la même écrivaine. Les deux textes décrivent des rêves hivernaux qui s'écroulent et deviennent des rêves fiévreux éveillant d'ambigus souvenirs. Les cinq premières minutes contiennent trois rêves musicaux, chacun composés d'une citation altérées d'autres pièces pour piano 'au sujet de' la neige. Ces citations incarnent la façon dont ces personnages habitent ces rêves: on sait qui ils représentent dans notre vraie vie même s'ils ne se ressemblent pas exactement. Au fur et à mesure les frontières séparant ces rêves se déconstruisent et les identités de ces personnages se tordent. Les souvenirs musicaux apparaissent, disparaissent et se mélangent, menant à une masse nuageuse puis une rupture.

Pièce commandée par le concours de composition pour duo de piano Luba Zuk. 
Interprétée le 11 Novembre 2019, Salle Tanna Schulich, McGill. 
Composée janvier-mai 2019 (Montréal/Baltimore).

Cent traces, sur de vastes plaines (2019)

sem peaks and clouds

The Assignment: Make music inspired by a line from A Wizard of Earthsea: “For a word to be spoken, there must be silence. Before, and after.”

Also on album "Hearken Beach".
https://krakenkraft.bandcamp.com/album/hearken-beach

Originally I just wanted to make five minutes of interchanching deep pad and noisy something, with a lot of non-silent space between them. I added some ambient field recordings in these spaces, because the name of the track was intended to be 'The Impossibility of Being Silent'.

But then my mi clouds produced some sounds of it's own and I liked it. At the end I had to reintroduce silence to all parts. All in all I hope this to be considered as a tentative approach to silence, with an increase towards the end.

--

More on this 451st weekly Disquiet Junto project, Ursula’s Silences (The Assignment: Make music inspired by a line from A Wizard of Earthsea), at:
https://disquiet.com/0451/

Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0451-ursulas-silences/

Album: Hearken Beach

A Tentative Approach To Silence [disquiet0451]

I've been looking at a bunch of videos of rainy nights in Tokyo, feeling inspired by the relative calm of otherwise busy streets. 
I have only had the Hydrasynth for a short time, but I've managed to squeeze it in as much of my schedule as possible. I've fallen quite hard for this marvellous instrument; it really is a rich, expressive, modern, digital ax for whatever the future has in store.

Tokyo Rain - Hydrasynth Demo by Ned Bouhalassa

I broke up with my loved one in the rain. That's why it's sad to hear the sound of rain.

YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXpFDjXrF58&list=PLAzqZlSbTrq9lYEDm_TlQhdqQV09dyXfE&index=20

(歌詞)

「さよならは雨の中」
作詞・作曲・歌　細田さら
アレンジ・演奏・ミックス・その他全部　king_of_freedom

見つめあって　見つめあって
ずっとずっと　見つめあって
離れたくないって　思ったあの日
あなたは切なそうな　顔をしていた
私はさよならを聞きたくなくて
ひとり言みたいに　話をつづけてた       
時間が止まればいいと　
それだけを願ってた
さよならは雨の中　雨音は悲しい想い出の音
あの日から私の心には雨が降りつづいてる

抱きしめあって　抱きしめあって
ずっとずっと抱きしめあって
離れたくないって　思ったあの日
あなたはずっと髪をなぜてくれてた
私は涙を見せたくなくて
あなたの胸に顔をうづめてた
時間が止まればいいとそれだけを願っていた
さよならは雨の中　雨音は悲しい想い出の音
あの日から私の心には　雨が降りつづいてる

抱きしめあって　抱きしめあって
強く強く抱きしめあって
離れたくないって　思ったあの日
今もあなたのこと　こんなにも愛しい
あの日から私の心には雨が降りつづいてる
あの日から私の心には雨が降りつづいてる

さよならは雨の中

2020年制作。
近所の小さい楽器屋さんで楽譜を買ってきた。気になっている曲があったから。楽譜を見ながらギターを弾く機会がほとんどないので、いい練習になるかなぁと。この曲は元々チェロの曲ですが、クラシックギターでもよく演奏されている。もちろん買ってきたのはソロギターアレンジの楽譜。やってみたら、今の自分には難しい。でも、おもしろい。で、ふと…弾けたところでクラシックギターの専門家たちが上手にやっているなぁ。「じゃー、いじってみようか」と。んで、こーなった。原曲からイメージがかけ離れたところに行ってみたかった。コンピューターミュージックというか・機械的な音というか、そんな感じに。それがコレっす。ソロギターバージョンはフツーに家で練習している。まともに弾けるようになるのは時間がかかりそうだ。でも最初の目的は「楽譜を読んで弾く」だったので、自分で決めた課題はクリアしたかな。300年くらい経って、外国で暮らす一般庶民が、こんな遊びをやっているなんて想像できたかな？本人は。サンキューよはん！永遠に！

【Music Equipment and Instruments】

【PC】Mac 2017

【DAW】Logic Pro X

【Audio Interface】Apogee Element 24

【Monitor Speaker】Yamaha HS 5

【Headphone】MDR-CD900ST

【Plug in Effects】Logic Pro X

【Software Instruments】FXpansion BFD 3・Native Instruments Kontakt

【Instruments】Fender Precision Bass(Line Recording)

【Pedal】Aguilar Tone Hammer(Bass Preamp)

Bach Cello Suite No.1 Prelude (Cover)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If a killing type of virus strain should suddenly arise by mutation...it could, because of the rapid transportation in which we indulge nowadays, be carried to the far corners of the earth and cause the deaths of millions of people."       --  W. M. Stanley, in Chemical and Engineering News, December 22, 1947.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Track list:

Weather Report – Milky Way
Blink Twice – A Surreal Form 1.0
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention – Nasal Retentive Calliope Music
Boson Spin – Mutated Toenail vs Rōnin Dust
Ancestor Worship – don’t wrestle with alligators
Volcano The Bear ‎– Classic Autumn Fusion
Carum – Provisum
Nova Scotian Arms – Navigation (Devotional) (excerpt)
Ben Frost – Steel Wound
finitor – The winds of Ocean Breeze lament Staten Island’s dead
ocean in a bottle – standing outside a canteen in the middle of a storm near the edge of a cliff
Joel Putnam – Clusters
Boson Spin – Ambirmul
Robert Knote – up the dungeon stairs
Henrik Meierkord, Marco Lucchi & Mean Flow – Totentanz I
rabbitsquirrel – His last recorded message -- a malfunctioning gearbox in the woods
wellenhafen – andere Wellenformen
:zoviet*france:  - Farewell to Coal and Ice
Unicode – Aftermath
Sonic Bodhi – Garden Dream
Juliette Hughes & Viriditas – O Coruscans Lux

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

Yu Kuwabara

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