HETEROPHONY OF TWO PIANOS AND ORCHESTRA（1987）

This piece was started in 1986 completed in 1987， and its first performance was given by The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and Kazuhiro Koizumi， with Akira Jinno and Shun Sato (pianos)， at Tokyo Metropolitan Hall， in May 1987. In February 1990， the U.S. premiere was made by The Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and Lukas Foss， with Aki Takahashi and Frederic Rzewski (pianos)， at Carnegie Hall， N.Y.， and in September of the same year， the European premiere was held by The Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and Peter E?tv?s， with E.H.Smebye and H.Austb? (pianos)， at Oslo Konserthus.
The then my interest was how to definitively establish the technique of “heterophony” as my own musical language.
As for the chamber works， I had tried the technique at “GAKA I” - Concrete of heterophony， “GAKA II” - Abstraction of heterophony and “GAKA III” - Generalize of heterophony， but finally， I had reached to a thought that I would like to write a symphonic heterophony due to pour into my maximum energy for the creation， and therefore， I devoted myself to the composition of this piece.
Two pianos are placed in the middle of the orchestra to take a leading part of its whole-sound， and to be an origin of dispatch the sound. The sound of a big orchestra is heterophonically ascending from the inside of violently reverberated sound of the tough wires of the piano， that was my original imagination and / or an original odea at the beginning of the composition， consequently， I took the two pianos， instead of a piano， due to get such a plentiful sound and a powerful durability.
The music is constructed by three movements， of which the second and the third will be played without break.
The “1st Movement” is a line-heterophony of the melodies played by tremolo of two pianos as an axis. A violent drone in strongly repeated open fifths is also characteristic sound of this movement， and had been seen in my original idea.
The “2nd Movement” is comparatively a quiet movement by two pianos and strings only. The movement in waves of two pianos， a trembling continuation by glissando of strings， a quiet continuation， all these are individually holding a continuation and a shift of model chords， as it is originally a plane or a layer， in common. Therefore， it is the movement of a plane- and / or a layer-heterophony.
The “3rd Movement” starts in 12/8， but in the last half it is changed in 4/4. The vibration of sixteenth-notes has been increased from two pianos to the whole orchestra. Within the last half a wave motion by a quasi-t?la in 4-3-5-2 is running played among individual part， because I wanted to put a rhythmical heterophony in the finale. At the climax the world of the 1st movement is revolved， and at the end of this piece two pianos anguish and are violently played like a cry， and then the music is finished by a strong orchestral a cry， at one blow， like gulp down the sound of two pianos into the orc.
Awarded the 36th Otaka Prize， in 1988.
Source: The Works of Akira Nishimura Vol. 1 ?Padma Incarnation: The Orchestral Works by Akira Nishimura / Camerata Tokyo (CMCD-20016?7)