PIANO CONCERTO “CROSSING A-I”（2016）

The Piano Concerto ‘Crossing A-I’ is a jointly composed work in three movements. The method of composition entailed a ‘crossing’ between the creative intentions of the two composers. More specifically，the piano solo part of the first movement was composed by Nishimura，while the orchestral writing in this movement is the work of Nodaira. These respective roles were reversed in the third movement. The second movement features the solo piano throughout. It consists of twelve fragments，six created by each of the two composers，which can be played in any order as determined by the soloist.
　　This joint work proved to be a difficult but interesting enterprise from which I personally learned much. The solo piano part of the third movement composed by Nodaira is extremely intricate and emits a crystalline radiance. In contrast，I attempted to blend in with a malleable，fluid texture in the orchestral writing. I feel that we have ended up with unique results that combines sound images with a heterogeneous character. The ‘A-I’ in the tide refers to our two personal names，Akira and Ichiro.
Akira Nishimura


　　Akira Nishimura has said all that needs to be said about this work. Composed by Nishimura，the solo part of the first movement features a stream of energetic music which prompted me to write for the orchestra in such a way that the writing sometimes flows together with the solo part and at other times fragments it or bounces off it. In the case of the cadenza in the second movement，I wrote a series of short pieces entitled Explosion，?cart，D?duction，Stagnation-Diffusion，Imitation and Rebond in response to the six character pieces with the tides Misterioso dolcissimo，Falling，Pulses，Galaxy，Eruption and Temptation previously composed by Nishimura. I myself composed the solo part for the third movement. I wrote it after seeing what Nishimura had composed for the first movement，my aim in this case being to bring about an effective conclusion to the concerto as a whole.
Ichiro Nodaira