KANG-CHEN for Violoncello Solo（2017）

I began working on this piece early in the summer of 2016 with the idea of creating a work premised upon discussions between composer and performer which would be recorded for inclusion in a documentary film. I studied how best to proceed on the basis of sketches that I made every other month or so. Work on the piece proceeded on eight occasions up to the autumn of 2017 and proved to be an invaluable experience for me.
Centring on sets of chords presented in the form of bundles of energy, the musical material incorporates unstable elements that remain concealed or shadowy. Although the sound itself is indistinct, the entities present formlessly and in a hallucinatory manner come together to create a harmonious whole. I conceived of the way in which time undergoes a process of constant repetition while ever changing as a way of pitting myself against this musical instrument with its long historical legacy which towered up like a rocky mountain before me. On a structural level the piece is divided into two main sections with the main musical material being presented in the second half of the piece and developed in the first half. The material itself consists of two modal groups, Group A involving expansion from the interval of a minor second to that of a minor sixth and Group B centring on combination of the concordant interval of a fifth and the discordant interval of a minor second. Moreover, the vowels present in the names of the people who participated in production of the film are quoted and used as repeated rhythms. The title of the piece is taken from the name of the mountain massif located at the eastern tip of the Himalayan range known as Kangchenjunga, consisting of five peaks of which the highest was assumed until 1852 to be the highest mountain in the world.
I should like to express my thanks to everyone who cooperated with the creation of this piece, and in particular to Kei Yamazawa for his technical advice.