IKEBE, Shin-ichiro池辺晋一郎(1943.9.15-)

SYMPHONY No. 11 “Oblivion to Deepen the Shadow”(2023)

シンフォニーXI〈影を深くする忘却〉

Instrumentation
2(II=picc).2(II=eh).2(II=bcl).2-2.2.2.0-timp.perc(2):marac/tam-t/SD/tgl/BD/2sus.cyms/tamb/tbells/mar/glock/wind chime/mokusho/flex-hp-str
Duration
18’00”
Category
Orchestra
Commissioned by
Tokyo Opera City Cultural Foundation & Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa
Premiere
2023. Tokyo. Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, cond. by Junichi Hirokami
Recording
CAMERATA/CMCD-99089
Description
Both my ninth symphony, composed in 2013, and my tenth symphony, dating from 2015, were inspired by poems written by Hiroshi Osada (1939-2015). The subtitle of this, my eleventh symphony, employs a line from a poem by Osada entitled Mori no naka no dekigoto (‘Happenings in a Forest’). All over the world we are witnessing wars, natural disasters, poverty and famine. Surely no one can object to the assertion that ‘oblivion’ is a topic of the utmost severity at present. Oblivion throws its shadow over us every single moment. Under these conditions what is the meaning of happiness? This question as posed by Osada is tackled in the ninth symphony by soprano and baritone soloists and in the tenth symphony by the horns. In the eleventh symphony it is posed in the third movement by trombones and trumpets and finally by solo viola. European music makes occasional use of fixed melodies that convey meaning without resort to words, as for example in the Dies Irae and the Dresdner Amen, the latter a six-note phrase originally sung by choirs in Saxon churches. ‘What is happiness?’ is a phrase that operates for me in the same manner as such fixed melodies.
The Symphony XI was composed on the basis of a joint commission from Tokyo Opera Cultural Foundation and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa and was first performed under the direction of Junichi Hirokami, a conductor in whom I place my absolute trust, by Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, the orchestra closest to my heart. A recording of the work has been released on CD by Camerata Tokyo.

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