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Born in Fukushima, Japan, in
1967, graduated from the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo where he
studied theory with Yuzuru Shimaoka and composition with Toshimitsu Tanaka.
In 1992 he received a scholarship from the Dutch government to study
composition in the Netherlands. He attended the Sonology Course at the
Royal Conservatory in The Hague and from 1994–96 studied with Theo
Loevendie at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. He has attended
workshops and received lessons from composers such as Gerhard Stäbler,
Gerard Brophy and Christian Lauba.
Two of his compositions, Spin out for flute and double bass and Hinge for
ensemble, were nominated for the Gaudeamus Prize and performed during the
Gaudeamus Music Week (1995 and 1998). In 1996 he received First Prize at
the Young Composers’ Meeting in Apeldoorn. His commissions have included
those from De Ereprijs Ensemble, the Yokohama Culture Foundation, Dutch
Television vpro, the Brisk Recorder Quartet, Gen Ensemble the Mayumi
Miyata & Stefan Hussong Duo, the flautist Abbie de Quant and the
organist Naomi Matsui.
Kazuhiko Suzuki lives in Amsterdam and teaches music at the Japanese
School of Rotterdam.
Selected works: Spin Out for flute and double bass (1994), Hinge for
chamber ensemble (1996), Hinge II for wind ensemble (1996), Ten-Pa Gesso
for four kind of harps (saul, kugo, Irish and concert harps) played by one
musician and five cd players (1998), Hinge III for harp and tape (1998),
Trees (scent) for chamber ensemble (1999), Mural for organ (2000), Wine
Glass and Silver Bowl for shô and accordion (2000), stella maris for shô
and kugo (ancient Japanese harp) (2001), Dripper for flute, harp and
percussion (2002), Dust Breeding for 14 instruments (2002–03), Molds for
shô (2004); incidental music for theatre and television productions.
Molds
The piece was inspired by the idea of ‘inframince’ (‘infra thin’),
which was elusively described by Marcel Duchamp.
‘The possible implying the becoming – the passage from one to the
other takes place in the infra thin.
The difference (dimensional) between two mass produced objects (from the
same mold) is an infra thin when the maximum precision is obtained. The
warmth of a seat (which has just been left) is infra thin.’
(from Marcel Duchamp ‘Notes’)
I transposed these ideas, which were stimulated by his words, into the
musical domain, and concentrated transforming the concepts to another
plane thus seeking a process to make a new dimension in music. I became
aware that the sound of the shô would realize this idea because of its
transcendent possibilities for the subtlest differentiations of sensitive
colour and tone. It evokes all the different senses (such as temperature,
visual sense, auditory sense) which awaken awareness in our consciousness.
The pieces was commissioned by, and dedicated to, Mayumi Miyata.
Kazuhiko Suzuki
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