Kaze ni hirugaeru
(Fluttering in the wind)
| Title | Kaze ni hirugaeru (Fluttering in the wind) |
| Year | 2007/2008 |
| Composer | Chappell Kingsland |
| Instrument/s | koto |
| Commission | Dedicated to Ryuko Mizutani |
| Duration | 6’57” |
| First Performance (date, performers, venue) | December 5, 2015, Yuki Sasuda and Shoko Hikage; Women’s Building, San Francisco, California |
| Contact for Sheets | For sheet music, contact music@ck4composer.com |
| CD, Digital Audio | http://www.chappellkingsland.com/index.html |
| Contact Info | https://www.ck4composer.com/index.html |
| Notes | Some people are only in your life for a short time, but they inspire and encourage you at the deepest levels, such that you are forever changed. I met Ryuko in 2003 when we both played with Gamelan Lila Muni in Rochester, and she immediately invited me to write a new piece for her and clarinetist Debbie McCullough. This was the first of six collaborations, including the world’s first composition for koto quartet and Balinese gamelan and a set of musically diverse arrangements for Lantana koto trio. I was already curious about music from other cultures, but Ryuko gave me the opportunities to go deeply into the world of the koto, to make my first trip to Asia for a recording session in Bangkok, and to write for many amazing musicians. Ryuko knew all about building bridges through music, and by inviting us on her journey, she taught us how to celebrate cultural diversity, make bold new connections and learn from each other. In the fall of 2007, I moved to Vienna to study composition. The first piece I wrote during that year was a koto solo for Ryuko. I chose the wind as the theme because, like music itself, wind is tremendously powerful and changeable, and though it cannot be seen, its effect is felt and heard. The piece flutters, surges, rises and swells, balanced on the edge between familiar and unpredictable. The next year, Ryuko sent me some comments on the piece and expressed her intent to learn and perform it [Kingsland]. |