Home People Pieces Recordings Bibliography Schools Glossary Sites & Events Teachers Join the ISS Log In

Gakuon Jyu

Gakuon Jyu

"Honkyoku, solo shakuhachi and a piece for shakuhachi and shamisen."

Fukuda Teruhisa
Kojima Recordings, Inc. - ALCD-9014
1999

Track Title Kanji Length Artist
1  Play Button Shin Kyorei 真虚霊 12'22 Shakuhachi: Fukuda Teruhisa
The shakuhachi originally came from Tang Dynasty China about 1,200 years ago. It can be divided into 3 types from its historical background. The first is the "gagaku shakuhachi" that came from China and considered a Chinese musical instrument during the Nara Period. The next is the "hitoyogiri shakuhachi" that suddenly appeared in the Muromachi Period. The last is the "fuke shakuhachi" that was created during the Edo period and is still used at present. The name Fuke comes from a Zen monk who lived during the Tang Dynasty in China This monk traveled throughout the county ringing his handbell and spread The Zen religion while trying to attain perfect spiritual awakening. One of his disciples who was good at the shakuhachi succeeded in creating a sound that could appropriately express the spirit of his teacher. This is the origin of this piece.
2  Play Button Ichijo 一定 10'41 Shakuhachi: Fukuda Teruhisa
"Ichijo" is a piece that is started by the occurrence of two occasions that changed happiness into tragedy, this piece ponders about life and ultimately creates an answer, Although bars are used in the scores, a free flowing performance that does not adhere strictly to the beat is preferred. Also it is preferable if the difference between the strong and the soft beats is shown almost to the extremes. (From The Seiho Kineya's Program Notes)
3  Play Button Meikyo 明鏡 12'29 Shakuhachi: Fukuda Teruhisa
It has been a while since the shakuhachi has been used instead of the kokyu in the san-kyoku(trio). Now a performance of the shakuhachi, and so instruments are considered a natural and good combination. The shakuhachi honkyoku, especially the phrasing and the breathing techniques used in the Kinko School has phrases that are similar to the shamisen music including the nagauta. There are the possibilities of new combinations and the “Meikyo” was composed in order to make an actual piece out of this assumption. The first movement is an interchange of slow music and the next movement is a bright sound that moves into long phrases that are an intertwining of sounds. This changes to a quick beat, which in the ending of the piece changes to a slow beat that is completely different from the beginning of the piece.
(From the Seiho Kineya's Program Notes)
4  Play Button Fish on Horizon 地の魚 15'54 Shakuhachi: Fukuda Teruhisa
This piece was composed in 1997 as part of a tour program for Teruhisa Fukuda (shakuhachi and Shiho Kineya (shamisen). It was first introduced in Tokyo in that year. It has a pentatonic base and a free musical structure. It starts quietly with the special techniques of the sorane on the shakuhachi and the koki-zume on the shamisen. After each instrument does a solo and the shamisen player sings a short song the piece ends quietly with a musical line using the shakuhachi sorane and the uti-nuki on the shamisen. Atsuki Sumi was born in Fukuoka in 1948. He studied under Toru Tamura at the Musashino Academia Musicae. He is the supervisor of the Banquet Office. His main works are the "To-fu-sho" for the shakuhachi, sho and percussion instruments, "M A S U" for piano and original orgel (music box) and "Fish from Heaven" a solo for the shakuhachi.
5  Play Button Shiki Soku Zeku III 色即是空3 14'25 Shakuhachi: Fukuda Teruhisa
Kaneta has previously created the "Shiki-soku-zeKuu I" for the shakuhachi and violin and also the "Shiki-soku-zeKuu II" for the shakuhachi and orchestra. In 1996 he has composed "Shiki-soku-zeKuu III" a solo for the shakuhachi, using components and overlaying themes that were used in the previous works while also including new and original material. The piece is mostly structured using the cadenza that was used in the shakuhachi in "Shiki-soku-zeKuu II". The character expressing "Shiki" portrays all things that have form in the Buddhist scripts, the character "Ko" means things that have no form or reality. The word, "Shiki-soku-zeKuu" means that all things that have form have no reality. Choji Kaneta was born in 1948 in Hokkaido and finished the postgraduate course at The Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. Presently he works at his alma mater. His main works include, "Tenkei I" for orchestra, "Ambivalence IV (Fg solo)" and "A Round for the Orchestra" that included a shakuhachi solo part.
6  Play Button Syukon 秋昏 12'30 Shakuhachi: Fukuda Teruhisa
This piece is a sequel to the previous shakuhachi solo piece that was composed for Teruhisa Fukuda (galled. "Ko Kon". As with the previous piece the notes used in this piece were composed from the letters in the performers name FUKUDA TERUHISA, using the FDAEHS(=Es)= M-l. The notes are lined up systematically. The structure of this piece is created from 3 sections, the first using the M-1 theme, the middle using the M-1 plus other musical material like M-a = M-b that next goes on to M-a only. Finally at the end the M-1 appears again. A short coda concludes the composition. Yoshiyuki Doi was born in 1944 in Kochi Prefecture. He graduated from Tama University with an MA in Literature. He studied under Mutsuo Shishido. From 1977 to 1979 he studied music in Austria at the Vienna Music University, Composition Division under the tutelage of Professor Roman-Haubenstock = Ramati. In 1983 his composition "Le Pinceau" an orchestral piece won an award at the ISCM World Music Festival in Denmark. Some of his main works are; Le Pinceau: for string quartet and orchestra, A Symphony for the Marimba and Orchestra. Permutation: for orchestra. A Piece for the Shakuhachi, Cello and Percussions, Ko Kon for the Shakuhachi, "Seiza" A Piece for 17 String Performers.