|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
I am fascinated with the music of the Far East and in my travels I have had ample opportunity to participate both as performer and composer in the music of China. Although I have never been to Japan, I am attracted to its music and to its culture. For many years have had a strong desire to compose a work related to Rashomon. The story was adapted by Akutagawa Ry?nosuke from the Konjaku Monogatarish?, an anonymous 12th Century collection of folk tales. The story tells of a murder witnessed by a group of people who have gathered under the dilapidated Rashomon gate to escape the rain. Rashomon literally means “the castle gate” and is the name of a large gate that stood between Kyoto and Nara in Japan. All of their accounts of the crime differ radically, but we are never told which account is the truth.
The form of the story is intrinsically musical, being a theme and variations, but the emotional context gives this classical form a new perspective. I divided the work into four movements, and within the larger theme and variations, each movement has its own form:
I. The Gate - Theme
II. The Murder: A Crime of Violence – Variations
III. The Murder: A Cold Calculation – Passacaglia
IV. The Murder: A Crime of Passion - Rondo |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
