Toshio Hosokawa (*1955 )

© KazIshikawa Toshio Hosokawa (*1955 ) 1 “Haiku” for Pierre Boulez ( 2000 / 2003 ) 8 Edi ( 2009 ) to his 75 th birthday – for piano 03:49 for clarinet 06:22 2 Spell Song ( 2015 ) 9 Senn VI ( 1993 ) for oboe 04:42 for percussion 10:01 3 Small Chant ( 2012 ) dedicated to Mr. Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi for his 70 th birthday TT 55:30 for violincello 05:00 2 Japanese Folk Songs ( 2003 ) 4 Falling Cherry Blossoms 05:35 5 Lullaby of Itsuki 03:02 6 Extasis ( rev. Version 2020 ) 1 Florian Müller, piano for violin 09:41 2 Markus Deuter, oboe 3 Benedikt Leitner, violoncello 4 5 Virginie Tarrête, harp 7 Voice ( 2020 ) 6 Annette Bik, violin for trombone 07:13 7 Andreas Eberle, trombone Commissioned by Klangforum Wien and 8 Olivier Vivarés, clarinet funded by the Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung 9 Lukas Schiske, percussion 2 3 “My music is a calligraphy of space and time, cello, for instance, with its intricate combi- In Extasis for solo violin, Hosokawa also taking the form of sounds.” nation of micro-tonal, horizontally flowing attempts to create a violin sound resem- movements and consonant vertical layers bling brush strokes. This is intended as an Toshio Hosokawa appears like a synthesis of European and extension of the voice, which – in shaman- Asian sound ideas. ic prayers – mediates between the worlds. According to Hosokawa, the original form The Far Eastern technique of calligraphy al- of music can be found in shamanism. In so serves Hosokawa as a principle for com- Japan’s earliest history, the Miko – female position. Hosokawa explains that “Sen” in shamans – attempted to merge with the im- According to Hosokawa, in the European music. This was followed by an intense ex- Japanese means “line”, and in his epon- mense energies of the cosmos by means of musical tradition a sound is only part of a ploration of the various styles in Japanese ymous composition stands for the brush song in order to be able to act as interme- whole, whereas in Japanese music, a sound music and provided the crucial impulse for strokes of Far Eastern calligraphy and Indi- diary between the material and the spiritual represents a landscape; it is always fol- the development of Hosokawa’s character- an ink painting. “These brush strokes derive worlds. The voice sings the song that bridg- lowed by a pause, then another sound and istic sound language. their expression from the emptiness of the es the gap, reaching the higher powers. a pause. background. With his strokes of the brush, The piece Voice for trombone, which was Thus he created ever more elaborate forms the calligrapher creates a balance between commissioned by Klangforum Wien, carries The Japanese composer studied compo- of encounter between western avant-gar- the lines and this emptiness. Empty space this voice already in the title. In Spell Songs, sition and classical piano in Tokyo, always de and the aesthetics of traditional Japa- implies a world that cannot be painted and Hosokawa imagines music to be an ex- guided by the traditions of western clas- nese music: European subjectivity coupled must needs remain invisible, its sounds do pression of a higher power with which the sical music. His passion was for Mozart, with an understanding of art informed by not reach our ears. It points to the realm of human voice can establish a connection. Beethoven, Schubert and Webern; he nev- Buddhism as an almost ego-less “Path of the unreal and of dreams; to the subcon- “Each sentence in my song has the form of er much liked his mother’s koto playing – Awareness”. He works with subtle differen- scious which harbours man’s limitless po- an Asiatic calligraphy; every sentence con- these typical sounds of the Japanese zither, tiations of fluid sounds, charts movements tential. Empty space is a hidden womb of tains a central note. To express the life of always slightly counter to the rhythms and that swell and subside, time and again in- natural energies which conceals our deep- this central note is the important thing in pitch of the singing voice that it accompa- cluding moments of silence or suffused est possibilities.” Accordingly, the piece is any interpretation.” nies. Only when he started his studies with stillness into his works. The feeling of time composed, above all, of silence and exact Isang Yun and Klaus Huber, who became as it passes with each passing event, which gestural instructions for the preparation of his teachers in Berlin and Freiburg, did he characterises occidental music, thus yields the few, isolated sound-events – just like an Sylvia Wendrock gain insight into the traditional Japanese to an experience of seemingly limitless enlarged execution of short brush strokes, music. Far from his country of origin, he dis- time – a close approximation to the ideas which – in partial tonality – give expression Translated from German by covered the beauty and spirituality of Asian of Zen-Buddhism. Small Chant for violon- to the necessary movement of the arm. Dr Vera Neuroth 4 5 Klangforum Wien Open-minded, virtuosic in performance and tivals in Europe, America and Asia. In a mu- aurally perceptive, Klangforum Wien – one tually rewarding collaboration with many of of the internationally most renowned en- the world’s leading composers, the ensem- sembles for contemporary music – devotes ble has formed a great number of formative itself to the artistic interpretation and ex- artistic friendships. Since 2009, the mu- pansion of experiential space. A perfor- sicians of Klangforum Wien have devoted mance of Klangforum Wien is an event in themselves to sharing their comprehensive the best sense of the word; it offers a sen- mastery of playing techniques and forms of sual experience, immediate and inescap- expression with a new generation of artists able; and the novelty in its music speaks, in the context of their collective professor- acts and beguiles. ship at the University of Music, Graz. Ever since it was founded by Beat Furrer in Klangforum Wien is made up of 23 musi- 1985, the ensemble – which, over the years, cians from Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, has received a great number of awards and Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Austria, Swe- distinctions – has written music history: It den, Switzerland and the United States. has presented around 600 world premières At the start of the 2018/19 season, Bas of works by composers from four conti- Wiegers was appointed First Guest Con- nents; it boasts an extensive discography ductor, taking over from Sylvain Cambreling of more than 90 releases, appearing at the who, however, has maintained a close re- most important concert and opera venues, lationship with the ensemble as its First but also in the context of young, commit- Guest Conductor Emeritus. ted initiatives, and at the major music fes- 7 Toshio Hosokawa Toshio Hosokawa, Japan’s pre-eminent liv- premiered by the Tokyo Metropolitan Or- ing composer, creates his distinctive mu- chestra in November 2019, recently re- sical language from the fascinating rela- ceived the Otaka Prize for the best Japa- tionship between Western avant-garde art nese composition of the year. and traditional Japanese culture. His music is strongly connected to the aesthetic In recent years, Toshio Hosokawa has pre- and spiritual roots of the Japanese arts sented three additional operas in quick (such as calligraphy), as well as to those succession: Stilles Meer debuted in 2016 at of Japanese court music (such as Gagaku). the Hamburg Staatsoper, the one-act melo- He gives musical expression to notions of drama Futari Shizuka premiered in 2017 in beauty rooted in transience: “We hear the Paris, with Erdbeben. Träume following in individual notes and appreciate, at the same 2018 at the Oper Stuttgart. time, the process of how the notes are born and die: a sound landscape of continual Toshio Hosokawa has been a member of ‘becoming’ that is animated in itself.” the Academy of Fine Arts Berlin since 2001 and was a fellow of Berlin’s Institute for Ad- Born in Hiroshima in 1955, Toshio Hosokawa vanced Study in 2006/7 and 2008/9. In came to Germany in 1976, where he studied 2013/14 he was composer in residence at composition with Isang Yun und Klaus Hu- the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra ber. Although his initial compositions drew and in 2018 he received the Japan Foun- inspiration from the Western avant-garde, dation award. He is artistic director of both he gradually built a new musical world be- the Takefu International Music Festival and tween East and West. He first gained wide- Suntory Hall International Program for Mu- spread recognition with the 2001 world sic Composition and, since July 2019, com- premiere of his oratorio Voiceless Voice poser in residence for two years with the in Hiroshima. His new orchestral work Uzu, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra. © KazIshikawa 8 9 Florian Müller Markus Deuter © Tina Herzl © Tina Herzl Florian Müller was born in Immenstadt, Ger- Hans Zender, Fabio Luisi, Pierre-Laurent Markus Deuter was born in 1961 in Mühlheim/ and the Aulos Quintett; he performs with many. He studied the piano and composition Aimard and Peter Eötvös. He participated Ruhr. Johann Baptist Schlee was his first the Munich Chamber Orchestra and holds in Munich and Vienna. He is one of the cen- in theatre productions directed by J érôme oboe-teacher; subsequently he studied with the position of First Oboist in several or- tral interpreters of contemporary music in Bel, Alain Platel, Christoph Marthaler and Diethelm Jonas and Prof. W. Feist (Essen), chestras, predominantly in Germany, such Austria and has appeared as a soloist at im- Jewgenij Sitochin. Florian Müller has taught Prof. H. Hucke (Cologne) and Prof.

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