CHIRO SORO CHIROSORO，for Harmonica and Piano（2023）

Although I had never previously even thought of composing a piece for harmonica，four years ago I wrote a solo piece for the instrument entitled Laughing Harmonica，Boiling Harmonica. As in the case of the present work，this solo piece was composed for a concert by the Groupe des Quatre et ses Ami(e)s sponsored by Zen-On Music. I subsequently revised it and it has been performed widely ever since. It was my encounter with the outstanding harmonica player Yasuo Watani that stimulated me to proceed into this wholly unforeseen direction. My path has frequently crossed with his since that first encounter，and on one occasion I attended a performance he gave of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on the harmonica with piano accompaniment. The ‘blueness’ of the music was conveyed in this format with a far greater intensity than in any orchestral performance. I was bowled over by the powerful expressivity of this tiny musical instrument and had the idea of creating a new work for harmonica and piano. I asked Hisano Ishioka，who I have worked with frequently in the past，to take charge of the piano part to blend with the Yasuo Watani’s harmonica.
The title of this piece is taken from a passage in an onomatopoetic nonsense poem entitled by Yoru no toki (Eventide) by Takuji ?te (1887-1934) which reads as follows:

Chiro soro chirosoro
Soro soro soro
Soru soru soru
Chirochirochiro
Sare sare saresaresaresaresare
Pirupirupirupiru piru

?te wrote another two poems in a similar vein entitled Hiru no toki (Noontide) and Asa no toki (Morningtide). Each consists of a sequence of onomatopoetic syllables which，although apparently meaningless，somehow manage to mysteriously convey the mood evoked by their titles. My much revered friend Akira Nishimura，who died in September?2023，composed several choral works based on poems by Takuji ?te. I finished work on this piece on September 7，and it was on the evening of that very day that Akira Nishimura died. I had no idea when I completed this work based on a poem by one of his favourite poets that he had passed away; it was only on the following day that I received the tragic news. With a sense of the deep meaning of this curious turn of fate，I would like to dedicate this piece to the memory of Akira Nishimura.