Home People Pieces Recordings Bibliography Schools Glossary Sites & Events Teachers Join the ISS Log In

Shinobue to Biwa no Shikyoku

[Genre]Modern
[Also Known As]Poem for Shinobue and Biwa
[Composed]Matsumura Teizo - Shakuhachi - 1979

Shinobue to Biwa no Shikyoku appears on the following albums

Album Artist

Teizo Matsumura - Selected Works Vol II Shinobue : Akao Michiko
Shamisen : Tanaka Yukio
"Poem for Shinobue and Biwa," commissioned by NHK Osaka, was composed in 1979, and was premiered on broadcast by Suiho Tosha (shinobue) and Kyokusui Yamazaki (biwa). The piece, composed of one movement which is played with no break, can be divided into two main portions, stillness and movement. The first half begins with an extremely reflective monologue of shinobue, then it is passed to biwa with serenity and dignity. Shinobue takes solo again and the motif at the beginning is amplified and a new melody is also introduced.

Then two instruments play together for the first time. Neither role of them is main or sub. they are equal here and each develops its own music concept, but the key points, where two players should keep time with each other, are fixed. In the latter half biwa begins to play ostinato and shinobue and biwa plays the same melody loud and clear. Then the beginning portion is recollected and music ends quietly.