Three Shokushi Seasons / 三つの季節 (2012)
Genre / ジャンル
Duo / 二重奏
Instrumentation / 編成
Flute, Violin
フルート、ヴァイオリン
フルート、ヴァイオリン
Duration / 演奏時間
9 minutes / 9分
Other information / 他の情報
Premièred 27 March 2012, at Suginami Public Hall, Tokyo, by Reiko Manabe and Shungo Mise (mmm… concert 4)
2012年3月12日、東京、杉並公会堂に於いて、間部令子氏と三瀬俊吾氏によって初演されました。 (mmm… concert 4)
2012年3月12日、東京、杉並公会堂に於いて、間部令子氏と三瀬俊吾氏によって初演されました。 (mmm… concert 4)
Score available for perusal or purchase (pdf or printed copy) from the Canadian Music Centre.
Programme Note
解説
秋きぬと荻の葉風の告げしより思ひし事のただならぬ暮
Since a wind over the rushes told me that autumn came, things I think about have become unusual at dusk
冬の夜は木の葉がくれもなき月の俄にくもる初時雨かな
A winter night: the moon, clear beyond a leafless tree, clouds suddenly as the first shower comes
山深み春とも知らぬ松の戸にたえだえかかる雪の玉水
Deep in the mountains, the pine door isn’t aware of spring – on it, intermittently dripping, beads of melting snow
English translations by Hiroaki Sato
These three short pieces, which run together without any break, are inspired by the poetry of Princess Shokushi (which can also be pronounced Shikishi), a poet, priestess, and nun in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods in mediaeval Japan. Her poems are filled with surprising turns of phrase and mood, shifting from light to dark in an instant, undercutting scenes of beauty with a sense of impending death and decay.
My piece is an attempt to capture Shokushi’s interplay of light and dark, especially as found in her poetry depicting the changing seasons. In each of the three seasonal sections, one instrument’s music (flute, violin, and flute respectively) was composed following a strict pitch-matrix based on a numerological analysis of one of Shokushi’s seasonal poems, while the other instrument’s line was composed as a free commentary on and accompaniment to the more restricted, poetry-based material. In an additional nod to the work’s mediaeval Japanese inspiration, the form of the piece is based on the tripartite jo-ha-kyū structure of Nō drama. Those three sections are in this piece each associated with a season, the seasons in question being Autumn, Winter, and Spring, with Summer being left out at my personal whim.
My piece is an attempt to capture Shokushi’s interplay of light and dark, especially as found in her poetry depicting the changing seasons. In each of the three seasonal sections, one instrument’s music (flute, violin, and flute respectively) was composed following a strict pitch-matrix based on a numerological analysis of one of Shokushi’s seasonal poems, while the other instrument’s line was composed as a free commentary on and accompaniment to the more restricted, poetry-based material. In an additional nod to the work’s mediaeval Japanese inspiration, the form of the piece is based on the tripartite jo-ha-kyū structure of Nō drama. Those three sections are in this piece each associated with a season, the seasons in question being Autumn, Winter, and Spring, with Summer being left out at my personal whim.
区切りなく演奏されるこれらの小品は、式子内親王ー平安後期から鎌倉初期にかけて活躍した詩人ーの詠んだ和歌に霊感を得て作曲さ れたものである。彼女の和歌は、光が急に闇へと移り変わるような、あるいは迫り来る死と腐敗のイメージをちらつかせながら美しい 情景をじわじわと侵蝕するような、実に驚くべき言い回しに満ちている。私の作品は、その光と闇の相互作用(それは特に「季節の移 り変わりの表現」において、はっきり描き出されている)を捕らえようとしたものである。四季のうち、夏を外したのは私の個人的な 思いつきに過ぎない。