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SEPTEMBER 29TH - OCTOBER 8TH 2000 |
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organised by  (ISCM Luxembourg Section) Information: info@worldmusicdays.com |
Hiroyuki Itoh
Hiroyuki Itoh, born in Sakata, Japan, in 1963, received a Ph.D. in music
from the University of California, San Diego in 1994. He studied composition
with Joji Yuasa, Shin-ichiro Ikebe, Roger Reynolds and Brian Ferneyhough.
Itoh's works have been performed and/or broadcast in cities such as Amsterdam,
Bloomington, Darmstadt, Los Angeles, Milan, New York, Rotterdam, San Diego,
Seoul, Tokyo and Wellington. Itoh won the first prize at the "Nuove Sincronie
International Composition Competition" (Milan, Italy) in 1995. Since he returned
to Tokyo in early 1996, Itoh has been active as a freelance composer. He has
received commissions from the Akiyoshidai International Contemporary Music
Seminar & Festival, the Nieuw Ensemble, the Yokohama Culture Foundation, and
the Suntory Music Foundation.
SALAMANDER II
for solo soprano recorder
The title, Salamander, refers to a mythological reptile, resembling the lizard,
that was said to have lived in fire. A salamander is believed to be extremely cold,
even though it lives in fire. It is also believed to move very quickly. Once it is
out of fire, however, it dies right away. This mysterious, imaginary creature inspired
the sonic image of this piece, though no concrete narrative is intended to be given.
Although this piece employs quartertones extensively, executing them with machine-like
preciseness is of a secondary importance. In other words, certain tunings might have
to be scarified a little bit to execute a certain passage musically. The higher goal
is to create a sense of musical continuity. As regards the timbral variations of microtone
sounds, they would be woven into a melodic line, especially at the indicated tempo, and
heard as a part of texture rather than as independently identifiable timbral elements.