Japanese Commission / Premiere

Greetings, global mando-friends.

I am delighted to share the exciting news that the Sapporo Plectrum Ensemble will premiere Under the Northern Star, a work I have written expressly for them, at a concert celebrating the orchestra's 80th anniversary on September 28th of this year at the Sapporo Kitara Concert Hall. There will also be further performances in 2020.

This is a significant landmark in my composing career because, while I have had several works performed in Japan and/or by Japanese musicians, this is the first time that I am writing a new work expressly for a Japanese plectrum ensemble. As you know, those are often quite large and wonderful orchestras of fine, serious, dedicated musicians.

I hope the audiences share my excitement...

Cheers to the rich mandolin culture of Japan!

Victor

We all look forward to hearing the performance; hope it will be posted....?

Congratulations, Victor!!

I sure hope so, Jim. It's a bit early to offer any specifics, of course. The good folks of Sapporo have posted other performances of theirs on the social media so I have reason to suppose that they will do the same in this case, too.

Also, as is my common practice, I will be happy to circulate the score and parts gratis as PDF files to any and all who may want them. For now, I'll just keep this score under wraps as the Sapporo orchestra has premiere rights.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CES

Congratulations, Victor!!

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Thanks, Chuck. It's certainly a meaningful moment in my composing career. This is a big, splendid orchestra, they get a beautiful, lush sonority out of so many instruments. :mandosmiley::mandosmiley::mandosmiley:

Congratulations. Will you be able to be there in person? In any event, it must be a hugely proud occasion for you!

Well... Sapporo is a long, long way away from New York City so I can't reasonably expect to attend in person. Perhaps some later performance, in my post-full-time-employment years, may be within reach. I can only hope... The premiere will be on the occasion of the orchestra's 80th anniversary but there are already other performances scheduled tentatively for the 2020-2021 season.

And yes, I am certainly very proud and happy to have been given this wonderful opportunity. Japanese plucked orchestras are often huge by most American and/or European standards, sometimes numbering over a hundred musicians! So writing this piece has been a challenge in "painting a with broader brush", so to speak. A celebratory fanfare for a large orchestra requires bold strokes.

Victor,

This is fabulous. I look forward to hearing this piece in future. An absolutely wonderful milestone for you. And, an 80 year celebration for them.

Michael.

Thank you, Michael. So it is, indeed.

Every new composition is a learning experience; you get to see your own work in a whole new light, you see things in the mirror that you may have never noticed before. Having written for so many smaller ensembles over the years, I've become a bit of a miniaturist, patiently carving every little detail, every pick-stroke, every minor articulation. See, for example, all the complex divisi splitting instrumental sections in my Samovar that Het Consort premiered recently so beautifully. Needlework. ;)

This new work is laid out on a whole other canvas, so to speak: sections comprise 10 of this, 12 of that, a roomful of guitars, some 50+ musicians on stage. So the painting is in broader brush-strokes, the volume of the sonority, the weight of the various musical gestures is on an entirely different scale. To make things even grander and more festive, the good folks in Sapporo have asked me to include a part for timpani (!) to dramatize and punctuate this score. So there's much for me to learn and have fun with. :)

At the end of the day, I can only hope that the audiences will share my excitement when they hear the final product of my labors...

Cheers,

Victor

True to form and right on schedule, the score and parts have just been delivered. :) I happily pass the torch to the good folks of the Sapporo Plectrum Ensemble. They have already programmed the premiere for this coming September; rehearsals begin immediately, this very week I believe. I have no doubt that they will do a brilliant job of this simple, straightforward score.

I move on with the transposition of another, older work of mine at the request of yet another mandolin colleague and friend. Stay tuned...

Cheers,

Victor

Sorry. Mistaken post.

Dear mandolin friends worldwide,

I am pleased and honored to share with you a recording from the recent premiere of Under the Northern Star, a symphonic work of mine for plucked orchestra, performed by the Sapporo Plectrum Ensemble, directed by Jun-ichi Abe. Few of us have the good fortune to witness a large and wonderful Japanese orchestra of plucked instruments on stage so I take great pleasure in sharing with you all the result of my collaboration with this excellent ensemble.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEu2t6tLozs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEu2t6tLozs

As is my usual practice, I will be happy to share the score and parts, in case you may wish to read through this music with your own ensemble as well. Music ultimately is just music; it is never fully or accurately defined by East or West, new or old, “classical” (whatever that means) or folk. In this score, I have tried to put it all together, to seek the right sonorities for such a grand ensemble, and whip it all up into a big splash, appropriate for the occasion of this wonderful orchestra’s anniversary.

Three cheers to the performers!

Victor

Really nice well done!

Thank you, Simon.

The character of the piece is self-evident, I believe. I was thinking of splashing, tidal waves, crashing on the shores— but of course the Japanese may view that sort of thing more with horror than with pride; a tsunami is never a cause for joy. At least music can only be symbolic, metaphorical. I also believe that the Northern Star holds deep, cultural connotations for the people of Hokkaido, even though I am not qualified to elaborate on this contextual meaning. I hope I did it justice...

I was struck with the full rich "orchestral" sound (not just "plucked ensemble"). I am sure this is a result of the size of the group, their skilled playing, and your composition. ["painting a with broader brush", so to speak. A celebratory fanfare for a large orchestra requires bold strokes.] You certainly achieved that goal! I don't know if this would work with smaller local groups (OMO??) but I hope the CMSA En Masse will consider this in the near future. Wonderful work.

Thanks, Jim. "Bigness" was always the intention, right from the get-go. Most plucked ensembles are modest in size; this commission was a challenge and a novelty for me as I knew from the start that I was writing for a truly enormous ensemble. The inclusion of timpani in the required instrumentation only augmented that quality.

I honestly cannot tell how small an ensemble would be able to recreate the sonority of this score adequately. My perspective is always from the composer's angle, not the performer's. All I can tell you in hard fact terms is that this piece was written expressly with that sonority in mind, "painted in broad brushstrokes".

Much depends on scale. By way of counterexample, my Samovar was written as a precious little jewel-box for a very precise, rather small ensemble, Het Consort. This isn't a value judgment but only a statement of fact, a declaration of intent, the formative principle that guided each score's creation.

I wish all my "children" well. :) I hope that this, too, will find its way...