Takahiro Kuroda
Composer
Scenery and ornament
Performance duration
17’
Premiere
December 8, 2015, Tokyo, 2nd Hall in Tokyo University of the Arts
Conductor: Ryohei Mori
Chamber Orchestra by students of Tokyo University of the Arts
Year of composition
2015
Instrumentation
1111 - 1110 - perc - hp - pf(2) - str(1.1.1.1.0) - assistant performer(4)
Commentary (English version)
Have you ever had the experience as a child, when you were absent from elementary school due to a cold, lying at home in a daze, that time seemed to move slower than usual, or that the ticking of the hands of a clock or the sounds of daily life or noise in the house seemed to be louder than usual? Remembering this experience from my childhood, I decided on the way the time would pass and the materials to be used in this piece.
To explain in detail, when I was composing this piece, I tried to structure the whole piece in such a way that it would have a musical time progression (a way of development) that would be making little progress. As for the materials used, there is almost no use of normal techniques, but mostly noises made by so-called extended techniques. I also used the sounds of household appliances such as vacuum cleaners, shavers, hair dryers, etc., as materials, based on the word "daily life sounds," which is one of the starting points of the concept of the piece mentioned above.
Lastly, as a side note, since the time I made this piece, I have begun to think that I am more comfortable making slow-tempo music rather than so-called up-tempo music.
Commentary (Japanese version)
子供の頃、風邪をひいたことで小学校を休み、家で寝込んで頭がぼんやりとしている時、時間の進みが普段より遅く感じることや、時計の針の音や家の中の生活音やノイズのような音が普段より大きく聞こえるように感じられる、というような経験はありますでしょうか？私は子供の頃のこの経験を思い出しながら、この作品の時間の進み方や使われる素材を決めていきました。
詳しく説明してみますと、この作品を作る際に、中々前へ進まず足踏みしているかのような音楽の時間の進み方（展開の仕方）になるように全体の構成を考え、それを試みてみました。使われる素材に関しても、通常奏法はほとんど使われなく、所謂特殊奏法によるノイズがほとんどです。更に上述した作品のコンセプトの出発点の一つである生活音というワードから、掃除機やシェイバー、ドライヤーなどの家電製品の発する音も素材として用いました。
最後に余談ですが、この作品を作った頃から自分は所謂アップテンポ的な音楽よりはスローテンポ的な緩やかに進むような音楽を作る方が性に合うな、と思い始めました。
