ABOUT
Ikebana
(生け花, 活け花, make flowers alive)
Ikebana is from the Japanese ikeru (生ける, "keep alive, arrange flowers, living")
and hana (花, "flower").
Connections between sound and silence
Sound, Light, Space, Shadow, Silence, Echoes
Haiku
(俳句)
a very short form of
Japanese poetry in three phrases.
D'ombre et de silence
Henri Dutilleux
Shadow and Silence,
Stillness of winter's cold night,
Silence has its sway.
In the year of 1973, Henri Dutilleux in his late 50s, composed The first title to the Three Preludes, titled 'D'ombre et de silence'. Translated as 'In shadow and silence'. In which, extraordinarily enough, was written for Artur Rubinstein. While the second and the third preludes were composed in much later years, creating one of his most notable piano work, the Three Preludes.
In D'ombre et de silence, Dutilleux brilliantly used groups of notes to create notes that resemblance somewhat of clusters chords along with tiny change in configurations between of whole steps and half steps made the effect of the sound produced by these quasi-clusters became something warm yet, at the same time, very still and cold.
Sonata in G minor Op. 22
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann’s greatest musical legacy is generally accepted to be found in the lyrical intimacy of his songs and piano character pieces–miniatures often gathered in song cycles or piano collections. In his twenties the composer did journey to Beethoven’s architectural world of the piano sonata with the composition of three works framed in that genre. Completed in 1838, the Piano Sonata in g minor, op.22 is the shortest of the three, but the most dramatically intense. It is filled with passionate outbursts utilizing diverse colors of the keyboard pallette, and yes, includes very Schumannesque moments of intimacy and nostalgia.
The first movement opens with a flourish and an impassioned first theme, abruptly interrupted by its lyrical counterpart. Perhaps jokingly, perhaps literally, the tempo marking at the top of the movement is stated 'So rasch wie möglich' Which can be translated to: 'As fast as possible' the coda is marked 'Schneller' (faster) and even then is marked 'Noch schneller' (faster still).
The slow second movement Andantino Getragen is a transformation of one of the composer’s earlier unpublished songs, titled Im Herbst (In Spring).
The third movement, 'Scherzo. Sehr rasch und markiert' (very quickly and marked). A short, blunt Scherzo is quite to the point, albeit again interrupted with a brief lyrical interlude.
The final movement of this work strongly bears the influence of his wife-to-be Clara. She felt that his original finale would not be understood by the public, so Robert obligingly toned it down for the sonata (the original was later published as a separate work Presto Passionato). Even in its “toned down” form, the movement sports a plethora of exciting musical ideas, coming to a close with a bravura Coda.
Run passionately.
Play the game of hide and seek.
Through this strangling thoughts.
A solemn silence;
Simply mesmerizing sound,
Peacefully embraced.
Quick bursts of laughter,
Unwillingly villainous,
Spiralling below.
Phenomenal daze;
Subdued into madness still,
Swirling in circles.
Rain Tree Sketch II
In Memoriam Olivier Messiaen
Toru Takemitsu
Constant flow of time,
As if the world itself paused;
Unaware of flows.
Toru Takemitsu composed his Rain Tree Sketch II in 1992 in memory of Oliver Messiaen (1908-1992), the French composer who had a strong influence on Takemitsu. The name of the work was probably inspired by a quotation from a novel by Kenzaburo Oe about the miraculous rain tree, whose tiny leaves store up moisture and continue to let fall raindrops long after the rain has ceased.The work is also a dreamy meditation on the flow of life, and was the last piano piece by Takemitsu
Takemitsu was a composer, but he was also a writer on aesthetics and musical theory.
Interestingly, the power and profundity of this piece comes not from the notes themselves, but the silences between them, which create extraordinary moments of stillness and repose. A pause in time, a void in space all happening during the constant flow of the music. This is probably why, since the first time I have heard of the music, the piece has weirdly stuck in the back of my mind for years and I have yet a chance to play it - until now, that is.