Kugo-Ka
箜篌歌
| [Genre] | Modern |
| [Composed] | Ifukube Akira - Koto - 1969 |
Kugo-Ka appears on the following albums
| Album | Artist | |
 | Pipa Xing - Works of Akira Ifukube |
Koto : Nosaka Keiko |
|
This piece was premiered in Paris on May 27,1969, by the guitarist Norihiko WATANABE. Although the piece was originally written for guitar, the score can also be played on the 25-stringed koto as it stands, and this is how it is recorded here. The kugo (Chinese konghou) is an ancient member of the harp family which originated in West Asia and traveled east to China and Japan, reaching Japan by the eighth century, At first it was used in the instrumental ensemble of gagaku, Japan's ancient court music, but its performance tradition soon died out, perhaps because of the difficulty of handling it. Ifukube was inspired to write this piece on seeing the remains of the instrument at an exhibition of the collection of the Shosho-in, the ancient storehouse of the Nara temple Todai-ji He tried to imagine what the melodies played by this instrument in ancient Assyria may have been like. The piece is in ternary form (ABA), with a stately introduction Section A is an allegretto dominated by elegant wave-like figures composed of groups of thirty-seconds. B is an adagio in a broad, ancient lyrical style, The piece is approximately 15 minutes in duration. - Morihide Katayama (translation: Steven G. Nelson) | ||