Song of Doves

鳩の歌

Title Song of Doves 鳩の歌
Year 2005
Composer Takashi Koto
Instrument/s koto
Commission Written for: Portsmouth Treaty Centennial Concert “Japan Day”
First Performance (date, performers, venue) August 7, 2005, Ryuko Mizutani, Portsmouth Treaty Centennial Concert “Japan Day, South Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Contact for Sheets the composer
Contact Info https://www.facebook.com/takashi.koto.10/
Notes Song of Doves (鳩の歌) was written to celebrate the centennial of the Peace Treaty of Portsmouth in 2005. The koto has movable bridges and can be tuned in a variety of ways from modern “atonal” to traditional pentatonic. I have chosen the latter, a little altered from the tradition begun one hundred years ago by Michio Miyagi. Because of the title, this work may sound like a program music with dove’s coos but it is rather mechanical and structural as usual as my composition style which I call “contour composition.” The music language is plain but the body of the piece is elastic, like an accordion, ever changing the tempo and density. [Koto]