GREEN BREEZE for Violin and Piano（2004）

There’s a regular programme entitled Masterpiece Recital broadcast on NHK’s FM radio channel in which I’m entrusted with a once monthly spot called ‘Musical Encounters’. This gives me the opportunity to present a piece to each month’s guest.
I composed this particular piece in April 2004. The score bears the hand-written marking ‘NHK op.4’, indicating that I created it at around the time I first began to appear on this programme.
The guest on that occasion was the violinist Kiichi Watanabe, and it was this encounter that gave rise to this piece. The score I initially created was little more than a sketch, but my guest provided a wonderful rendition of it. The piece has subsequently been performed by many violinists, although always with recourse to my original hasty sketch.
The broken chords in the piano are intended to suggest a fresh breeze blowing through young green leaves in spring and early summer, while the violin melody evokes the image of beautiful girl standing erect as she’s wafted by the breeze.
It’s a simple piece, but I hope that violinists will enjoy playing it with the addition of their own personal flavouring.