S. Reich: Clapping Music
Praised by the New York Times as “our greatest living composer”, the New York-born Jewish American composer Steve Reich is one of the leading figures of contemporary minimalism. His works incorporate elements of West Africa and those native to America (jazz in particular) into Western classical music.
The inspiration of Clapping Music came from Reich’s exposure to flamenco on a tour to Brussels. It involves two performers clapping hands, with the first one repeating the same rhythm and the other clapping variations based on the rhythm, until both eventually return to the same rhythm. The subtle rhythmic changes are continuously developed using the same pattern throughout, making it a delight to listen.
By Joe Hisaishi
A. Pärt: Summa for String Quartet
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, known as the Baltic States, were occupied by Germany and the former Soviet Union during World War II, and remained under Soviet occupation until 1991.
Arvo Pärt was born in 1935 and has continued composing to this day, spending many periods of his life in his occupied homeland (relocating to Austria in 1979, and later to Germany where he lived for a long period of his life). Pärt initially created works associated with avant-garde music in Western Europe, but in the 1970s, underwent a significant transformation in style. Both melody and harmony became exceptionally simple, and a sense of something spiritual emerged. How would you feel when listening to these compositions?
A slow-paced phrase repeated multiple times. The interplay between each instrument in the ensemble continues to evolve. Summa is a compilation of philosophical and theological essays, meaning something akin to "compendium."
Well known is Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, penned in the 13th century. Pärt developed his method of composition through trial and error, titled his work with this name. It was initially written as a choral piece in 1977 and later adapted for ensemble. The Kronos Quartet performed it in 1992.
Notes provided by Wonder City Inc.
J. Hisaishi: 2 Pieces for Strange Ensemble
2 Pieces for Strange Ensemble was written for Music Future Vol. 3. It started with the idea that I wanted to write a piece with an unusual instrumentation. The first piece was written in F minor using broken chords, and the second piece was written in F sharp minor to keep it as simple as possible. As a general idea, the first piece contrasts sound and silence, vibrancy and quiescence; whereas and the second piece is structured using the golden ratio of 1:1.618 (5:8) in terms of time. In other words, it gradually increases (to put it simply, it becomes more exciting) and slowly becomes calm after the point of the golden ratio. The golden ratio creates a sense of visual balance, but this is an experiment to see if the balance is also observable in time. The literal translation of the first piece, Fast Moving Opposition, is “the contrast of moving fast,” and the second piece, Fisherman’s Wives and Golden Ratio, is also literally “fishermen’s wives and the golden ratio,” so the titles do not make much sense. I was inspired by Salvador Dalí’s exhibition, but the inspiration did not come directly from his artworks. Nonetheless, it is true that I saw his Fast Moving Still Life and Four Fishermen’s Wives of Cadaqués out of the corner of my eye during the composition of this work, and they inspired me in some way. However, I used the idea of the golden ratio in my second piece, Fisherman’s Wives and Golden Ratio, even though the concept of the golden ratio was used in the former artwork, Fast Moving Still Life.
By Joe Hisaishi
W. Kilar: Quintet for Wind Instruments
Born in 1932, the Polish composer Wojciech Kilar composed works of classical music and film scores, with one of his works winning the Cesar Award for Best Film Music.
The Quintet is one of the very few chamber music outputs of Kilar, composed when he was 20, combining neoclassical melodies and harmonies with unadorned folk elements.
By Joe Hisaishi
J. Hisaishi: Variation 14 for Large Ensemble
Variation 14 for Large Ensemble is a composition I created in April 2020 as the second movement of Symphony No. 2. I re-composed it for a concert at Music Future Vol. 7. This piece aims to pursue the pure motion of sound. It is structured with a theme, 14 variations, and a coda. It’s approximately 11 minutes long and was designed to be easily comprehended (though challenging to perform). I believe that the most important thing now is to enjoy the music.
By Joe Hisaishi