Duration c. 14 minutes Commissioned and premiered by Marcel Worms and Eleonore Pameijer as part of their 6 Continents Project, February 23, 2005, Hartt School of Music, Hartford, CT.
(Performers: Bart Feller, Linda Mark)
Published by DINSIC Publicacions Musicals, Barcelona, Spain.
Click here to order: https://www.dinsic.com/ca/publicacions-clasificacio-general/partitures-avancat/card/partitura-mi086-9_haiku
Recording available on “Same Rivers Different” by Michael Fiday, Innova Recordings (https://www.innova.mu/albums/michael-fiday/same-rivers-different)
9 Haiku are a set of varied musical reflections on texts by Basho. Haiku pose a paradox in terms of scope, their concise forms revealing an entire world within. In keeping with this, some of the reflections are as long as 3 minutes, others barely 30 seconds. I chose the texts, then arranged them in a specific order based on subject (birds, moon, bells), framing them by two outer texts suggesting the beginning and end of a life journey. The first setting does make use of an actual rice planting song (Ta-ue-uta), which recurs from time to time. The last haiku is significant in that it is Basho’s “death poem” – the last haiku he ever wrote. 9 Haiku was originally composed for Eleonore Pameijier and Marcel Worms as part of their ‘6 Continents Project’.
MF
| 1 The beginning of art – a rice-planting song in the backcountry. | |||
| 2 Midfield, attached to nothing, the skylark singing. | |||
| 3 Harvest moon – walking around the pond all night long. | |||
| 4 As the sound fades, The scent of the flowers comes up – the evening bell. |
|||
| 5 Lightning – and in the dark the screech of a night heron. | |||
| 6 Where’s the moon? As the temple bell is – sunk in the sea. |
|||
| 7 Clouds come from time to time – and bring to men a chance to rest from looking at the moon. | |||
| 8 My eyes following until the bird was lost at sea found a small island. | |||
| 9 Sick on a journey, my dreams wander the withered fields. |
Matsuo Basho
Translations: Robert Hass
“a satisfying set, some of the movements delicate and ephemeral, some enigmatic, some ingeniously clever. ” – AllMusic