Maki Ishii: Mono-prism • Esprit Orchestra & Nagata Shachu

Maki Ishii (JP): Mono-prism (1976)

With Taiko Ensemble Nagata Shachu | Kiyoshi Nagata, Founder
https://nagatashachu.com/about

Esprit Orchestra | Alex Pauk, C.M, Conductor

Recorded live at Koerner Hall, Toronto on January 25th, 2023

«In Mono-Prism, the orchestra is joined by seven players of Japanese drums performing on seven drums with heads attached to the body with cords (shime-daiko), one large drum with riveted heads (Ō-daiko), and three medium-size drums with riveted heads of the type known as Chichibu-daiko.

«The title Mono-Prism is a compound word consisting of the elements "Mono", which refers here to the monochromatic tonal quality of Japanese drums, and "Prism", referring to the prismatic tonal quality of the Western orchestra. "Mono" thus symbolises the Japanese musical element and "Prism" the Western musical element. The drum ensemble plays in the manner of a spiral, moving back and forth between determinate rhythm (simplicity) and indeterminate rhythm (complexity). For its part, the orchestra radiates in the manner of a prism acoustic and temporal elements qualitatively different from those underlying the motion of the drum ensemble.» - Maki Ishii