"Perspectives of New Music is the name of the well respected Journal of 20th Century music, that goes along with this CD. In the issue, for the first time, Japanese Music (modern and Traditional) was given a 200 page section, edited by Dr. Henry Burnett. There is also an excellent trio recorded live in Tokyo of Zangetsu, and a solo version of Reibo by Nyogetsu."

Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin
Nimbus Records - PNM 27
1989

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Reibo (Futaiken)	霊慕 (布袋軒)	10'40	Shakuhachi: Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin
	The shakuhachi is an end-blown Japanese bamboo flute. The standard instrument, known as a 1.8, is one shaku, eight (hachi) sun long (about 54.5 cm). Longer instruments, such as the 2.4 used on this recording, produce sounds lower in pitch and are considered to be especially suitable for playing Zen music. During the Edo period, solitary shakuhachi-playing monks walked the length and breadth of Japan in search of the one perfect sound which would bring enlightenment. These monks were known as komuso (priests of emptiness and nothingness). Priests in the Fuke sect of Rinzai Zen Buddhism used the shakuhachi as a tool for meditation, the practice being called sui-zen (blowing zen). These earliest, meditative compositions are known as honkyoku. Honkyoku are not intended fur public performance, but rather to awaken the mind of the performer to a higher state of consciousness. (Futaiken) Reibo is one of the classical honkyoku assembled by the komuso and teacher of komuso, Kinko Kurosawa (1710-1771). There are many versions of Reibo; this particular piece is associated with a Futaiken, a temple in the northern area of Japan known as Sendai. -Hilary Tann See also Hilary Tann's article "Coming to Terms: (Futaiken) Reibo," Perspectives of New Music 27, no.2 (Summer 1989).
2	Zangetsu	残月	21'30	Shakuhachi: Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin Shamisen: Henry Horaku Burnett Voice: Henry Horaku Burnett
	Setting Moon Composed by Minezaki Koto (fl. in Osaka 1789-1804), Zangetsu is considered to be the most deeply expressive piece in the entire Japanese classical trio-ensemble repertoire. Minezaki wrote the poem and its musical setting following the sudden death of his favorite pupil, a young girl of the aristocracy. The theme of Zangetsu concerns sadness and frustration with the transience of human existence. In the poetry, the famous composer expresses both his tentative faith in a life after death, when all truth will be known, and his disillusionment with this world, in which love dissolves all too quickly-like "the setting moon." Zangetsu was composed in Osaka during the Tokugawa period (1603-1868), a period that witnessed the rise of a flourishing merchant class. The wealthy merchants vied with the aristocracy in patronizing and developing new art forms of great sophistication. Under their patronage ukyio-e woodblock prints became popular, new types of paper and cloth materials were invented, the Kabuki and Bunraku theaters thrived, and chamber music reached a level of compositional creativity unknown before. Most chamber music composed for the merchant class was written for sankyoku, or trio ensemble of sangen (three-stringed lute), koto (thirteen-stringed zither), and shakuhachi (end-blown bamboo flute). In particular, brilliant works in this genre were produced by composer/performers living in and around the cities of Osaka and Kyoto, where the merchant class was most prosperous. The first great masterworks of ensemble music were composed in Osaka toward the end of the eighteenth century. This repertoire, generally known as Osakamono, is characterized by virtuoso instrumental technical skill. Among several outstanding Osakamono composers, Minezaki Koto is considered to be the greatest. Minezaki Koto was a composer/performer who, like other musicians of the period, was blind. The shogunate government protected these artists by creating a guild (which also included blind masseurs) whose purpose was to oversee their welfare as well as to bestow titles of rank. Two ranks of artistic merit were established especially for musicians: kengyo was the highest, and below that, koto. It still remains a mystery that Minezaki, perhaps the finest composer of his age, never attained the rank of kengyo. Perhaps he did not have the money with which to purchase the title - a condition necessary for advancement at that time - or, perhaps, there might have been a political reason since the guild seemed to favor Kyoto musicians over those of their Osaka neighbors. Zangetsu is composed in the traditional three-part tegotomono form in which a technically demanding instrumental interlude (tegoto) is flanked by two vocal sections (called respectively, maeuta and atouta). The tegoto interlude in Zangetsu is unique in that it is divided into five sections, or dan, of widely varied characters and tempi. Even so, the five internal sections of the tegoto are unified through a sophisticated variation technique that operates both within each dan, and from one dan to the next. The performance on this recording was taped live at a concert given on 31 May 1988 at the Ruteru-Center Auditorium, Tokyo. -Henry Burnett For a more detailed discussion of Zangetsu see Henry Burnett, "Minezaki Koto's Zangetsu: An Analysis of a Traditional Japanese Chamber Music Composition,', Perspectives of New Music 27, no.2 (Summer 1989).
3	Maibataraki II		06'43
	Maibatamki II was commissioned by Michiko Akao and was completed in February of 1987. I am quite happy to have finally had an opportunity to write a piece for Noh flute (no-kan) and especially for such an outstanding performer as Michiko Akao. I had wished to compose for this particular instrument for a long time. Although quite primitive as an instrument, the Noh flute has a unique character which has been refined through its role in the long history of the Noh theater. As a Japanese, I closely identify with the idea of extending our tradition. One way of doing so is by taking advantage of the intrinsic nature of our traditional instruments. I perceive our musical tradition in terms of structure and mental attitudes-i.e., the way of thinking rather than more superficial aspects such as pentatonic scales. My point of view, however, is not meant to ignore certain concrete Japanese musical formulae. I conceive of traditional figures such as grace notes as essential musical information in Japanese music because, unlike Western music, there is no harmonic structure and timbre per se plays an integral, not ornamental role. Consequently, I have fucused greater attention on the gestural grace notes and characteristic structural formation. Although originally composed for the Noh flute, Maibataraki II can also be performed on the alto flute. -Joji Yuasa The no-kan is a vital instrument of the musical ensemble which accompanies the classical No theater. Developed from the seven-holed ryuteki (dragon flute) of the Gagaku orchestra it differs in its basic construction and in the bore of the span between the mouthpiece and the first finger hole. This throat section of the no-kan has a smaller diameter than that of the ryuteki, allowing the player to produce higher-pitched sounds and scales. In some versions of the no-kan, the bamboo has been split lengthwise into narrow strips which are then turned so that the hard outer surface of the bamboo is on the inside of the flute. This inner surface is lacquered in red, whereas black is used on the outside. The unusual tonal qualities produced by the no-kan are said to have the power to call back the spirits of the dead. See also Joji Yuasa's article "Music as a Reflection of a Composer's Cosmology," Perspectives of New Music 27, no.2 (Summer 1989).
4	Waves, The		12'46
	The sun had not yet risen. The sea was indistinguishable from the sky, except that the sea was slightly creased as if a cloth had wrinkles in it. Gradually as the sky whitened a dark line lay on the horizon dividing the sea from the sky and the grey cloth became barred with thick strokes moving, one after another, beneath the surface, following each other, pursuing each other, perpetually. -Virginia Woolf, The Waves (used with the permission of the Hogarth Press, London) The Waves is a work for singer and computer, based upon the first paragraph of Virginia Woolf’s novel of the same name. In this opening passage, Woolf's prose changes from an objective description of dawn on the sea to a more subjective response to the scene. By the end of the paragraph Woolf's use of language suggests the movement of the sea by embodying a wavelike rhythm. In Dodge's composition, the musical patterns also exhibit wavelike forms. For example, during the first part of the work the lines of the computer part (which are themselves patterned on the pitch contours of La Barbara's reading of the text) rise and fall like waves. Dodge wrote The Waves for Joan La Barbara, who performs live to an accompaniment based upon the qualities of her own voice. All the sounds in the computer part were derived from a recording of La Barbara reading this passage from The Waves and singing examples of extended vocal techniques. The particular vocal techniques were "multiphonics" (uncharacteristically low tones that have a strong frequency component at the octave) and "reinforced harmonics" (intoning in such a way that arpeggiating among adjacent harmonics can be clearly heard above the fundamental frequency). The folk-like melodies heard near the end of the work, for example, are the actual sound of La Barbara's recorded reinforced harmonics, enhanced by computer processing. The computer part entailed no speech synthesis-a technique used in many of Dodge's other computer music works. Rather, the recorded voice is employed here as a sound source for computer extension and enhancement, and also as a model for the frequency and amplitude of computer-synthesized sounds. John Stautner of MIT's Experimental Music Studio was central to the completion of the work. Stautner's Auditory/transform analysis software was used to trick the pitch of the recorded voice and to isolate certain features of the speech. He collaborated closely with Dodge to help design the computer-synthesized and -enhanced sounds in the work. The Waves was commissioned by the MIT Experimental Studio with a grant from the Massachusetts State Arts Council. -Charles Dodge