芥川作曲賞/Competition of Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition

Yu Kuwabara Works

Cond. Toshiaki Umeda
Orch. Geidai Philharmonic Orchestra (Tokyo, Japan)
Live recording at 21.05. 2022 Sogakudo Concert Hall, Tokyo University of the Arts

痕跡/螺旋(差延 II) オーケストラのための Trace/Spiral (Différance II) for Orchestra (2021〜22)

Moonlight Hidden in the Clouds (orchestra)

Yu Kuwabara | Time Abyss (2019-20) for 17 musicians divided in 2 groups (excerpt)
commissioned by International Ensemble Modern Academy in the context of CRESC... Biennale für aktuelle Musik, CRASHKURS HUMAN__MACHINE
recorded live at Albert-Schweitzer-Schule Offenbach, Offenbach am Main, Germany on 1 March 2020
premiered by Enno Poppe (cond) and Ensemble Modern
awarded The 31st Yasushi Akutagawa Suntory Award for Music Composition

桑原ゆう｜タイム・アビス (2019-20) 17人の奏者による2群のアンサンブルのための（抜粋）
2020年3月1日 @アルベルト・シュバイツァー・スクール・オッフェンバッハ（オッフェンバッハ・アム・マイン／ドイツ）
cresc...現代音楽ビエンナーレ「クラッシュコース ヒューマン＿マシン」
演奏｜エンノ・ポッペ（指揮）、アンサンブル・モデルン
第31回芥川也寸志サントリー作曲賞受賞作品

Time Abyss (2019-20, expt.) for 17 musicians divided in 2 groups

inspired by 《Dream》(John Cage)

Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor : Kosuke Tsunoda

28 May. 2023 Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall : Takemitsu Memorial

Underscore (2022)

Dancing QUEER (2022)
Comp. Wataru MUKAI

26.08.23
New Japan Philharmonic
Seitaro Ishikawa (cond.)
Ito Shiozawa (English speaker)

Prize: 
33th Akutagawa Yasushi Suntory Prize

Dancing Queer (2022) Wataru Mukai

« Antigone and Creon » (2024) for soprano, ensemble & electronics

This score was written with the strange idea of combining artificial intelligence (AI) tools with what I consider to be one of the most beautiful tragedies of all time, that of Antigone. The idea came to me by chance, but it became inevitable at a more or less conscious level, both for me and for today's society. The main dramaturgy of my score lies in the confrontation between the soprano, the voice synthesised by Creon's AI, and the electronic sounds eroded and transformed by the AI's vocal material. 

However, I don't want to limit myself to highlighting the negative aspects of technology by associating AI with a tragedy. Although the text set to music in my score is generated by Chat GPT, it nonetheless respects the dramaturgical structure of Sophocles' play and the various versions that have followed, because the AI is based on automatic learning from a large amount of data and then selects the words that it thinks are closely linked to a certain context according to probability algorithms. In other words, the dramaturgy of the text of my score is transformed and moved into a decontextualised state by the AI, creating an effect similar to that of "dépaysement" in surrealism. This effect is interesting in itself and makes it possible to add or create other theatrical situations if they are well articulated. For example, in my score I combined Japanese phrases that recall the notion of nirvana, which in Buddhism means liberation from all suffering.

Antigone's death is unfortunate in itself, but it is intrinsic to every heroine of tragedy. In other words, her death is a triumph for the human race. Whatever the progress of technology and the more or less positive evolution of our society, I still believe that human ethics and joy are not lost for the individual and human society.

Takuma Saito

Antigone and Creon (2024) for soprano, ensemble & electronics

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)