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Stratums of Times

時の層

[Genre]Modern
[Composed]Nishimura Akira - Koto - 1987

Stratums of Times appears on the following albums

Album Artist
Play ButtonIris of Time Koto : Sawai Tadao
Koto : Sawai Kazue
IRIS OF TIME (1987)
-Heterophony for Seven Kotos
and Three Jyushichigen-Kotos
by seven kotos (Japanese zithers) including one solo, and three 17-string kotos including one solo

I composed this commissioned by the Japan Arts Council(a producer Mr. Naoji Yamakawa) in the spring, 1987. From the first I imagined SAWAI KOTO ENSEMBLE in composing, and it resulted in a composition in which I try a heterophony woven by many layers of time streams kept in my mind since several years ago. The composition consists of following two parts.

I. Stratums of Times
I have tried to put some neighboring time Streams in parallel, and express a sway of folded time layers as a whole. A delicate rhythm lag which I call "micro-polyrhythm" is performed, folded in many layers. In tuning, a pile of perfect fifth presented by the solo koto at the beginning makes a backbone of mode of all instruments, whose intervals are to be filled up by seven partial modes distributed to each instrument. A big cadenza by both soloists is put at the latter part.