MASATORA GOYA "Onokoro" Concerto for Hichiriki THOMAS PIERCY Hichiriki 篳篥 (Chamber version)

MASATORA GOYA 合屋正虎 "ONOKORO" Concerto for Hichiriki and Strings (2021) (Chamber version)

THOMAS PIERCY, Hichiriki
トーマス・ピアシー, 篳篥

TACETi Ensemble
RYO HASEGAWA, Conductor
長谷川 稜, 指揮者

World Premiere. December 17, 2021
Thailand New Music and Arts Symposium 2021
Bangkok Art and Culture Centre (BACC)
Bangkok, Thailand

NOTES on the concerto from the composer:
"The title “ONOKORO" derives from the Japanese creation myth. The onomatopoeic name is thought to stand for the way a pair of male and female deities stirred the ocean of life with a long halberd, which created the islands of Japan. I spent the majority of the year 2020 contemplating this concerto in the midst of the global pandemic and political turmoil in the US so that it must have absorbed the energy of chaos and uncertainty, as well as the dire need of hope and resurrection. It felt like a perfect
parallel to the creation myth when I was trying to find a new way to integrate a Japanese traditional instrument within a traditional Western context, a new birth of hichiriki.

Hichiriki is a quintessential part of Gagaku, an ancient court music imported with Buddhism through China and Korea but evolved into its own in Japan. The tiny double reed instrument with the range of about one octave is highly temperamental, but can be bent and slide between notes with the control of air and embouchure. This technique is called “enbai” and is widely heard in Gagaku. The aesthetics in Gagaku and Western classical music may be seen completely opposite, but Gagaku
flourished in Japan during what was the Middle Ages in Europe so that its Western equivalent would be Gregorian chant or Medieval pagan music. Also, the recent study suggests that Gagaku used to be performed 10 times faster that the tempo we normally hear it in today. These small findings made me dream about a concerto in a raw and modal nature, showing the essences of Japanese and Western music alternately and then gradually melding the both elements as one. Hichiriki may seem primitive and imperfect from the perspective of Western classical instruments because it has never been modernized. This compelled me to showcase its power and uniquely expressive tone that still stand the test of time, rather than forcing it to play like any other Western reed instruments. It floats above the sound forest of strings, which are the body of Western symphonic tradition. To make the synthesis between the two worlds, I borrowed the “enbai” technique for strings to bend and slide between notes, used pizzicatos to emulate Japanese plucking instruments such as koto and biwa, and utilized double-stops to juxtapose notes right next to each other as does the “sho”, a bamboo mouth organ playing chords in Gagaku."


Commissioned by and Dedicated to Thomas Piercy.
"ONOKORO" is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Thomas Piercy http://www.thomaspiercy.com/

Tokyo to New York
http://www.tonadaproductions.com/toky...

Masatora Goya https://www.masatoragoya.com/

Ryo Hasegawa https://www.hasegawaryo.com/

Thailand Music and Arts Organization
http://www.tmaomusic.com/