Commission
Commissioned by Music From Japan

Performance duration
11’

Premiere
March 2, 2019, New York, Victor Borge Hall / Scandinavia House
Momenta Quartet

Year of composition
2018

Instrumentation
String Quartet

Commentary
In my daily life, I try to find out the social structure and the social conditions by carefully examining and researching what I suddenly feel and notice.
For example, if we are standing idly in the middle of an ordinary natural environment, time will pass by without any particular change, but if we carefully observe our surroundings, we may notice a change, such as the movement of a small insect under our feet. But if we observe your surroundings carefully, we may notice the movement of a small insect under our feet. There are also changes in the scenery that we cannot perceive due to distance and size.
This applies not only to nature, but also to the society we live in and our daily lives, and there are small changes that we can overlook in our daily lives if we are not careful. On the other hand, there are times when we are so distracted by the big changes that we don’t notice them.
To broaden the topic a bit, there are times when small changes and events are buried under big news and events that make a lot of noise. By paying attention to these small changes and events, and learning about them, we may be able to gain a different perspective. They may not only be complete in themselves, but they may be related to major changes or events that are making a lot of noise, and this may change our perspective on them.
To add to that, even important events can be deliberately hidden by other major events or news. We need to pay attention to these hidden things.

Now, my piece this time is quite low in volume. Also, at first glance, it sounds like unchanging music, but there are several levels of small changes built into it. Some of the changes are easy to understand, some are noticeable if you pay attention, and some may even be difficult to perceive. One of my interests in this composition is what people hear and feel, what they pay attention to and what they notice in such music with very low volume and few changes.

translated by Sharon Nakazato