STRATA III, for Clarinet and Violoncello（1989）

I began working on this series of works in which the pitch range of instruments is likened to geological strata in 1988. The series currently comprises thirteen works, one for solo instrument, seven for two instruments and five for string quartet. I organised a small-scale contemporary music festival named ‘Sound Splash’ between 1987 and 1989 that took place over three days on each occasion. The concerts were held at the Tokyo FM Hall, the title of the series being suggested by David Hockney’s series of paintings entitled ‘The Splash’. This particular piece was first performed in the 1989 ‘Sound Splash’ festival on what we called the ‘Ebony Splash’ day. The performance was given by two outstanding musicians, Yoshiaki Suzuki, a former contemporary of mine at the Tokyo National University of the Arts and then principal clarinettist of the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and the orchestra’s principal cellist, Kaoru Hanazaki. The piece remained unpublished thereafter and is now at last seeing the light of day.