SYMPHONY No. 3 “FOR IDEAL CIRCLE OF SEASONS”（2018）

It was in 2000 that I composed Nami no ho (‘Wave Crests’), my first commission from the Yamaha Symphonic Band. This was followed by a series of annual commissions continuing until 2003 and the composition of Sōten no shizuku (‘Droplets from the Azure Sky’, 2001), Suifū no hikari (La Saison Lumineuse du Vent Vert, ‘Luminous Season of the Green Wind’, 2002), and Fūyō no mai (Fluttering Maple Leaves, 2003). The collective title for all four pieces is Shiki rentō (‘Litany of the Four Seasons’, For Ideal Circle of Seasons). Much later, in 2018, the Yamaha Symphonic Band came up with the suggestion that I should rearrange For Ideal Circle of Seasons, resulting in the emergence of the present work. Various ideas were floated including a piece based on excerpts from or abbreviations of the earlier works and their arrangement into a suite. I finally accepted the proposal that they be combined in the form of a symphony.
How does composing a suite differ from composing a symphony? I’ve adopted the traditional symphonic four-movement format of fast-slow-dance-fast movements, but this doesn’t mean that in the present day that it’s form alone that permits description of a work as a symphony.
The important thing is the structuring of time, and this is why the original pieces do not correspond exactly to the movements of the symphony. The themes of the movements in order are autumn, winter, spring and summer as represented respectively by maple leaves, wave crests, blue sky and wind blowing through the hills, but I make use of motifs from other pieces. In places I’ve also changed or rearranged the orchestration or have added newly composed sections. The overall musical development thus differs considerably from that of the original pieces, and I feel confident that I’ve succeeded in creating a formal structure that gives rise to a new sense of the passage of time.
I feel too that it’s important to convey a message of universal significance. For Ideal Circle of Seasons thus alludes to the passing of the seasons, with the seasons conceived in their ideal form, and by extension to idealised visions of humanity and of music itself.