Netori
Tôgaku

Ranjo
Shô Netori
Rinryûgaku

Jyobuki
Komagaku

Gagaku Ensemble of the Music Department, Imperial Household; Toshirô Mayuzumi, conductor.

The purpose of the commission was to express today's life by using a special music style of Gagaku. It was "contemporary music," but the music had to be created in the context of Gagaku, and that was the uniqueness of the commission. The piece had to be "today's gagaku," not the "contemporary music for Gagaku Ensemble." [Akihiro's note: probably what he wants to say is that this piece should be a today's living traditional gagaku piece, rather than a new, avant-garde music that used an old, outdated gagaku ensemble.]

By responding to the commission, Mr. Mayuzumi wrote such a magnificent piece by using the scale types and compositional techniques that are specific to the Gagaku, and he expanded these with his inspiration derived from elements that the Gagaku itself has, such as the Jo-ha-kyû structure.

This is unquestionably a gagaku piece, but it is a very radical one in the gagaku repertoire.

Shôwa-Tenpyô-raku's instrumentation expands the traditional kangen orchestration. To include a komagaku section in the piece [Akihiro's note: the kangen is a in the tôgaku genre, not in the komagaku], Mayuzumi adds a koma-bue and san-no-tsuzumi. Also, to have a more powerful taiko sound, he replaces the tsuri-daiko [normally used in a Kangen piece] with the da-daiko [which is more popularly used in a bugaku piece].

Furthermore, Mayuzumi adds four ancient instruments, which are no longer used in today's gagaku performances: u (a mouth organ, whose tessitura is an octave lower than the shô), ô hichiriki (perfect fourth lower than the normal hichiriki), dai-sô (large eighteen-string koto), and gakin (seven-string bowing zither, which is similar to Chinese Assô [Japanese pronunciation]).

It is clear that û and ô-hichiriki were used in Tempyô Era (729-756). Dai-sô and gakin were used in ancient China, according to historical documents. All of them are low instruments. To our surprise, except for gakin, these instruments are almost identical to the similar instruments used today. [Akihiro's note: I do not know which "instruments" he is talking about. Maybe Chinese instruments?]

By the way, there are three instruments, which are not included in this piece, despite the fact that they are used in today's gagaku orchestra. These instruments are kagura-bue, wagon, and shakubyôshi, which are employed in Japanese-style gagaku genres, such as Mi-kagura. The instrumentation appears to use all possible gagaku instruments, but actually all the instruments used in this piece are foreign-derived. However, these instruments are used in the context of a Japanese kangen ensemble, and the role of each instrument in the ensemble is based on kangen's performing practice.

Notes by Mayuzumi (excerpts)

What I could do was to change back today's sophisticated gagaku into its original form, in which the musical style was not stable yet. From that point, I sought for my style and my expression. More generally speaking, this piece was an attempt to present an antithesis to the legacy of Japanese culture, which was established in the Heian Period. That was why I named this piece Shôwa-Tenpyô-raku. [Akihiro's note: Tempyô Period (729-756), Heian Period (794-1191), Shôwa Period (1926-1989)].

I intentionally employed instruments that are not used in today's gagaku but were used long time ago. Since there was no extinct copies of the instruments, I gave up the kugo and five-string biwa, but I could use the u, whose tessitura is an octave lower than shô, the ô-hichiriki, which is tuned a perfect-fourth lower than the hichiriki, the eighteen-string ô-goto, and gakin, which has seven strings and very similar to the Korean kayagum but is played with a willow branch. I am grateful to the music department, imperial household.

I. Jo

It begins with a large-scale netori. By following the traditional netori style, shô plays first, then solo performances of u, komabue, hichiriki, and ô-hiciriki, follow. The kakko starts playing on the tone-cluster created by those woodwinds. At the climax, the netori on strings begins. The netori is closed by the koto and biwa, and then the tôkyoku (main piece) in the tôgaku style begins with a ryûteki solo. After the second part of the tutti on the woodwind and strings, the number of the woodwind decreases, leaving the strings and closing the piece, as typically seen in the nokorigaku.

II. Ha

This movement is divided into three sections. Section 1 is the ranjyo, in which six fue lead the section (the ranjyo is an introductory section for a bugaku piece, and many examples of this section are played by fue in a free rhythm). Section 2 is the netori, played solely by the shô and u. Section 3 is a dance in ôjiuki-chô [ôjiuki mode], yatara-byôshi [yatara meter], and in a rinryû gaku style. It begins with a fue solo and increases the tempo. At the climax the tempo goes back to the original one. The counter-melody of this section is taken from Tibetan Buddhism music.

III. Kyû

The most characteristic element of this movement is created by the special performing technique of da-daiko, the shindô-byôshi (this technique is used in Somakusya-no-jyo). All the woodwind instruments start the jyobuki in a free, improvisational style. Then, as a rhythm in the komagaku style is established, the solo koma-bue introduces a theme. This theme is on ichikotsu-chô (ichikotsu mode), and the counter-melody is on the hichiriki is on Kôrai-sô-chô, creating a sense of polytonality. The rhythm used in this section is a mixture of kôrai-shi-byôshi, kara-byôshi, and agebyôshi. The tempo is gradually accelerated, with occasional insertions of jyobuki. At the climax, the jyobuki appears again and the piece is closed.
 

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