TRIPLE CONCERTO “THE BUTTERFLY DREAM”, for Violin, Harp, Clarinet and Orchestra（2023）

‘The Butterfly Dream’ is a well-known tale that appears in Zhuangzi (c.369-286 BC), the honorific name of the Chinese Daoist philosopher Zhang Zhou who lived during the Warring States period.

On one occasion Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was butterfly. He completely forgot he was Zhang Zhou and spent the time happily flitting about among the beautiful flowers. He suddenly awoke from his dream and was astonished to find that he was Zhang Zhou. But he was unable to tell whether it was Zhang Zhou who had dreamt he was a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming that he was Zhuang Zhou.

For a long time I regarded this as a rather infantile tale, but as I grew older I became aware of its profundity and today I find it strikes a resonant chord within me. I decided to write a piece based on this tale as I approached my seventieth birthday.
Of the three soloists the violin and the clarinet might be thought of as representing the butterfly and the human being respectively, while the harp is a manifestation of reality as neither the butterfly nor the human being. The orchestra amplifies the soloists, sometimes enveloping them supernaturally. It might regarded as the foundation of true identity.
I originally intended to integrate the three soloists at the end of the work, but I eventually decided to end the piece with the violin dying away in its uppermost register, the clarinet fading away in its lowest register, and the harp disappearing with isolated notes in the middle register, representing the dissolution of the work’s dream.
I composed this piece in the spring of 2023 in response to a joint commission from Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka and Tokyo Sinfonietta.