Mubansō Viora Sonata: Sonatas for Viola solo

Score title

Composer

Akira Nishimura

More about the composer

Akira Nishimura

Date

2005-2007

Instrumentation

Viola

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Program note

Akira Nishimura

Sonata I 'Whirl Dance' for Viola solo

A whirly-dance which has been seen in religious ceremonies, in the world, is the theme of this piece, and is a sort of fantasia. Why people whirl ? I guess that a feeling of isolation between the soul and the body is led by the whirling, namely, it is a situation of 'Ekstasis'. In general, such feeling of isolation should be discomfort, however, depend on the mind, that is possible one can experience a mysterious and a supernatural phenomena. Following the introduction by strong pizzicato to purify the place for dancing, exorcising evil spirits, (after the Japanese ancient ceremony called 'a ceremony of a catalpa bow'), the whirly-dance starts. How becoming a feeling between the soul and the body of the dancer ?

First performance was made by Shunsuke Sato at the 12th annual concert of "Les Quatre et ses ami(e)s" organised by Zen-On Music, at Tsuda Hall, Tokyo, on 18 November 2005. The piece was written on commission of ZenOn Music. The CD is available from CAMERATA TOKYO label (CMCD-28152). The duration is approximately nine minutes.

Sonata II Mantra on the C string' for Viola solo

This piece was composed for the C string, the lowest string of the viola, and is mostly played on the string, because, I wanted to make a good use the peculiar tone-colour and expressive power of the said string of this instrument. The former piece, 'Sonata l' has a character of dance, and is rhythmic, however, the character of this 'Sonata II' is rather melodic. The melody line of the piece has various ornamentations, tone-colour changes, and glissando etc., written based on the imagination of chanting Mantra. 'Mantra' is the prayers' sacred word of Hinduism and Buddhism.

First performance was made by Shunsuke Sato at the 14th annual concert of "Les Quatre et ses ami(e)s" organized by Zen-On Music, at Tsuda Hall, Tokyo, on 14 December 2007. The piece was written on commission of Zen-On Music. The CD is available from CAMERATA TOKYO label (CMCD-28152). The duration is approximately eight minutes.