|
Born in Tokyo in 1969, she
studied at the city’s National University of Fine Arts and Music,
winning a Master’s Degree in composition in 1992. She continued her
compositional studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique.
She also took the course in composition and musical data processing at
ircam (mostly under the guidance of Tristan Murail) in 1996/97. In 1995
she received the Japan Music Award for Passage en failles. In 1998 she
received a fellowship award from the Darmstadt Courses. A year later her
work La chambre claire was selected as a recommended piece at the unesco
International Composers’ Rostrum in Paris. In 2002 she won the Audience
Award at Ars Musica in Brussels (for Chimera). Her honours also include
the Akutagawa Prize for the best composition for orchestra (2000, Camera
lucida) and the Arts Encouragement Prize of Japan (2003).
Her works have been featured at many prestigious festivals and concerts in
Tokyo, Akiyoshidai, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Caracas, Darmstadt,
Donaueschingen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Graz, Cologne, London, New York,
Paris, Perpignan, Royaumont, Schwaz, Vienna, and Witten.
Selected works: Rain, steam and speed for violin, cello and double bass
(1994), Passages en failles for ensemble (1994–95), One Glance in Spiros’
backyard for ensemble (1995), Ceneri for mezzo-soprano and ensemble
(1995–96), All that is including me for bass flute, clarinet and violin
(1996), Voilages, sextet (1996), Dérivation for flute, percussion and
piano (1996), En arcades for clarinet and electronics (1997), Si bleu, si
calme for chamber ensemble (1997), Intermezzi for flute and amplified
piano (1998), Intermezzi I for flute and piano (1998), La chambre claire
for chamber ensemble (1998), Camera lucida for orchestra (1999), Chimera
for chamber ensemble (2000), Pas ¹ bas for bassoon and accordion (2000,
also version for clarinet and accordion – 2002), Cloud Nine for
orchestra, Homebox, double concerto for piano and violin with orchestra
(2001), Noos for orchestra (2001), Ecoute for five cellos (2002),
Intermezzi II for koto (2002), Météorites for orchestra 2002), Omega
Project for orchestra (2002), Wise Water for ensemble (2002–03),
Moebius-Ring for piano (2003), Ima, koko for orchestra (2004).
All that is including me
The title comes from a line in an improvised poem by Buckminster Fuller:
‘Environment to each must be All that is including me. Universe in turn
must be All that is including me.’
I discovered this poem in Return from Space, a book by the Japanese
journalist Takashi Tachibana, in which some twenty American astronauts
describe their space travels in the 1960s. I was much impressed by the
spiritual power of their experiences, especially their religious
consciousness. At the same time, scientific literature on space provided
me with technical ideas for this composition, specifically the ideas of
attraction, repulsion, dilution, condensation and rotation. In this work
three instruments each play different rhythmical figures, starting with
similar, short motives, but subsequently developing repetitions and
elements using diminution and augmentation. Each instrument has its own
velocity and tempo, while the ensemble moves as in a rotation system full
of fluctuations. These shifts produce shadows and changing light patterns,
leading to the expansion and contraction of the length of time.
The work was premiered on 26 February 1997 in Tokyo.
Misato Mochizuki
|
