"Handsome Face" Tofu

First day off. It’s freezing outside. I walked to the theatre where I left my bike. And caught the sight of budding sakura on the way. So beautiful.

Weather report is announcing a very winterish week, complete with snow and storm. Hooray!

I’m learning a bit of Japanese everyday and try to find situations where I can use certain words. I’m so happy to remember the words, but less thrilled when the answers come back in Japanese and I realize I have to use my intuition to understand!

So today was: ‘Can I get some oil for my bike please?’

I had dinner at Jo and Sawako’s. She had bought this new brand of tofu with ‘handsome faces’ representing the twelve zodiacal signs gracing each box. Among the three she got was a Cancer tofu.

Amazing all the ideas they come upt with just to sell tofu…

'Cancer' Handsome face tofu

Triangular Response

The movement Triangular Response, is now finished. I really struggled to find the right solution to suit Jo‘s wishes.
This Window Vista on my new computer is more annoying than anything since it doesn’t recognize many of the programs and software I had been using until now. My external sound card is therefore useless - I should have listened to my intuition that told me not to bring it along. However all these little technical inconveniences created a frame within which I had to find a solution.

Triangular Response was causing Jo some teething troubles. He said the choir was so strong and brought such an emotional charged atmosphere that he couldn’t find where the physicality could fit. This movement has been quite a challenge for me. But I think it has now reached its final state. I tried to record some cymbals and the addition proved less than convincing. Then I thought of the bells I had added in the finale to counter-balance the loftiness of the soprano part. I did the same with some big drums to root the music to the ground and therefore allow some space for the dancers.

We’ll have to wait for the costume to come in order to know how all this works. For that particular scene, Miharu, the costume designer, has created a one piece costume for all the dancers - although I think the set design and the costumes were already set before I even started composing the music.

Each dancer is bonded to the other whether by the arm, the knee, the head, the shoulder…. The sight of this nine-bodied creature is quite uncomfortable.

The music already sounding like some weird, mystical ritual with the soprano, the choirs, the bells and the frantic drums, the whole scene is sure to drive the audience to the edge of uneasiness. 

After the rehearsal, Jo and Sawako took me to the hot spring. The virtues of hot volcanic spring water! I immersed myself in the outdoor pool and contemplated the starry sky. We didn’t stay too long, but were completely knackered when we went out. We still managed to find the strength to have some dessert at a very trendy café called Nelson, a architectural crossroad between 50’s Californian style and a cozy Scandinavian minimalism.

I have been having dinner and drinks with them everyday. Now that we are closer to each other, the friendship can develop beyond the limits of the professional frame.

I collapsed on the bed as soon as I got back to the my room.

At work

Big snow storms outside. They don’t last long but offer an impressive spectacle on each outburst.

I prefer to work in the big round patio outside of the rehearsing studio. They have put tables and boards for the company. We eat, chat and relax there. A beautiful view on the river, the sky, sight of distant mountains, I prefer this environment than the airlessness of the sound studio.

I have asked for some percussions and big drums in order to complete my music. I got a big bass drum, a set of snares, cymbals, woodblocks, and they found no other place to store them than the sound studio, so I have to tip-toe my way through them.

We have been working intensively this week. Now as I write, my mind is stuffed and I can’t do more.  Jo has asked for lots of readjustments and it was a mind blowing experience to include them in the music as if I had intended them myself. Trying to fit two minutes of additional music eventually takes more time than composing a whole movement as I have to go back to the roots and find the right path to blend the new elements.

The result is somehow more rounded. Not as cutting as I would have originally wished, amazing how a few notes can throw a new light to a whole hour long piece. But it certainly eased the way for Jo to find a thread. Poor dancers, they are sweating throughout the whole piece. Jo is taking them even further physically. I’m totally in awe of their endurance and ability. I could watch them at work for hours without getting bored. I feel as heavy and graceful as a rice bag afterward!

Five o’clock in the morning. I always wake up around that time before slumbering into sleep again before breakfast. It’s been snowing the whole night. To think it’s Spring in four days…

My head was filled with the cello sound I’ve been hearing all day yesterday.

I would have loved to do a second recording of it, because I see lots of little flaws that I can’t possibly leave on the final print. I may find a way to arrange these details.

Christophe and Isabelle have indeed been great: to come and record almost immediately after trying their part a couple of time requires lots of self confidence.

However, the flaws are counterbalanced by the emotional strength they bring to the music. It was a pleasure to work with them and feel their willingness and enthusiasm to work with me.

Christophe and his cello

PLAY 2 PLAY: first day of work

I bought this new laptop to work here in Niigata. I would have brought my good old and faithful HP pal who had been my faithful companion of creation in Vienna, London, Tokyo, Niigata… He helped me conceive Nina’s Hidden Glass, Mm, NINA Materialize Sacrifice and the the songs from my album Circlesong…

How sentimental I can be. But the old laptop had a major computer break up last year on that fateful day, when a friend from Zürich, a specialist in IT, suggested to control my it from Zürich to help me fix some problem… The unexpected solution was death. Nothing worked after that.  

So I spent hours re-installing all the programs and transferring my data. Now I’m operational!

[...]

There will be a prelude and a few transitions to write for PLAY 2 PLAY. The prelude will actually be the first part of the cello movement. Jo had tried a few ideas on it, and it suddenly struck him that he found the thread for everything.

Remarkable how this addition of the prelude changes my whole conception of the music. It gives it a totally new light.

Now I feel like writing an additional movement, although I don’t know quite where to place. Jo would also want to try to have one of the dancers speak during the show. I’m always doubtful when words have to be used because I want to walk away from it. But I’ll attempt to incorporate it as a ‘musical’ element. 

I was so knackered because of the jetlag, I was fighting hard to keep myself awake during the rehearsal. Jo took pity of me and kindly told me to go back to the hotel to sleep. I would be needed in good shape the following day!

Back in Japan

It was the most natural thing to be walking the streets of Tokyo with Nolico. I had just landed in Japan the same morning and was to take the train to Niigata a few hours later. But for now I was in the Shibuya area, as if the sixteen months that separated my last trip and this one had been reduced to a mere day or two.

Was I the multiple same person living his lives in various parts of the world in different dimensions and yet possessing that one same awareness…?

When as a young boy I would come back from my summer holiday, I would always need a few minutes to readjust to the colors of my room, the ordinary life.

« Oh this is where I’m really supposed to be », the only way to keep on surviving the ordinary life was to open new doors to my imagination to let in fantasy and dreams.

Jo and Sawako were waiting for me in the restaurant of the hotel. It was half past eight and they were the only customers.

The music that filled the silence was that usual stringy syrup that would turn any great tune into a sticky nightmare.

I was staying at the Italia Ken, with the same view on the non too distant sea, the same miniscule green bike, the same waitress who greets me every morning with a new French word with her deep husky voice. I was happy.

We had one rehearsal on the theater stage this afternoon. Last night at dinner, Jo had told me about his ideas and what he wanted to try. He may have been worried that I wouldn’t want to change a single note to my score. But as soon as we discussed the possibilities, I saw that he relaxed. Yes Tsuyoshi  and I were in Paris and seeing one another each time we had something new to show and he must have felt isolated, alone in Niigata with this impossible score I wrote for him to choreograph!

I liked what he had done so far. The fact that the wall is hiding the other side of the stage will be frustrating. Jo’s vocabulary is so rich, it would take more than one viewing for someone to catch all the details. Still now I’m discovering new movements in NINA at each viewing.

Sick

Oh so sick today. I went to my Chinese doctor, Mrs. Tian, but the fever was so high, it didn’t go away. I need to sleep, rest, eat better. I realize I have been treating my body rather poorly the past weeks. I haven’t cooked a real meal since my return from New York!

My flight is in four days, so I’d better take it easy and slow it down.

I bought myself some nice films to watch for the coming evenings: Zhang Yimou’s Curse of the Golden Flower.

Ewig

A new day brings lots of changes. The music for PLAY 2 PLAY is now nearly complete. Jo has asked for a couple of additions, but they’ll be composed when I’m in Niigata. The core of the ballet is done. I finished the finale just yesterday. It wasn’t easy, once again, to juggle between my wishes and what I could actually do regarding my means.

Isabelle came to work on her aria. I sang her the vocal line and she got goose bumps! It’s a very operatic ending for a ballet. A cello is holding a single note throughout the whole number as the soprano slowly reminisces a long forgotten song. She comes like the sunset at the end of a journey. A few piano sounds fall like a crystal rain and create a nearly dream-like backdrop until the soprano reaches the climax emphasized by an orchestra playing a simple, long E-flat major chord and leaves the soprano to repeat one word: Ewig (eternally) as a distant echo of what has been.

It’s amusing to read what I had in mind even a few days ago. In spite of my plans, I knew I would find an unexpected turn and follow it. There is no Hebrew chanting anymore. The cello number is set in two parts, first a long inspirational elegy backed by high strings, then that slow waltz I mentioned. The Hebrew choir was replaced by a last recall of the Slavic theme that was sung by the soprano and the choir, as a transition to the finale.

Jo said he finished choreographing the first three movements. We have challenged each other to push our limits and explore even further is this forest of creativity. I know PLAY 2 PLAY is the start of a new phase. Nicolas told me that I should be welcoming some kind of revolution now. And I have intuited it since my New York trip. And I also keep catching cold. My body is readjusting!