MATSUDAIRA: Bugaku Dance Suite / Theme and Variations for Piano and Orchestra
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Yoritsune MATSUDAIRA (1907-2001) Theme and Variations for Piano and Orchestra Sa-Mai U-Mai Danza Rituale e Finale Yoritsune Matsudaira is descended from the...
Yoritsune MATSUDAIRA (1907-2001)
Theme and Variations for Piano and Orchestra Sa-Mai U-Mai Danza Rituale e Finale
Yoritsune Matsudaira is descended from the Shogun
family who ruled over Japan from 1603 to 1867, based
in Edo, later changed to Tokyo. The family name of the
Shogun was originally Matsudaira, and only a limited
number of people, who possessed the right of inheriting
the shogunate, were allowed to use the name
Tokugawa. Yoritsune's direct ancestry was from
Yorifusa Tokugawa, the first Shogun's eleventh son,
who lived in Hitachi-Fuchu, north-east of Edo. When
the Shogun regime came to an end, the imperial family,
who had practically been deprived of powers and had
existed only as a dignified religious and spiritual
symbol, returned to the forefront of politics for the first
time in six hundred years. Japan's rapid westernisation
and modernisation under the Emperor naturally
involved a drastic change in the life of the Shogun
family. Matsudaira's estate in Hitachi-Fuchu was
confiscated by the new government and the head of the
family, Yoritsune's grandfather, was given the title of
viscount in return, following the newly introduced
aristocracy, modelled on the European system. The next
head of the family, Yoritaka Matsudaira, Yoritsune's
father, served the Emperor as manager of the hunting
field and was to leave behind a reputation as an
ornithologist and a collector of rare stuffed birds.
Yoritsune Matsudaira was born in Tokyo on 5th
May 1907, the first son of the "Viscount of Birds" and
heir to the title. On his mother's side he was descended
from the Fujiwara family, who had been the most
powerful nobility at the imperial court from the seventh
to the twelfth century and practically governed Japan.
These surroundings imbued him with a peculiar
character. He loved artificial things, partly because he
grew up surrounded by stuffed birds, and he detested
every kind of nationalistic element, because he had
spent his childhood between 1910 and 1920, when
individualism and liberalism were in fashion, a reaction
against the nationalism prevalent since the Sino-
Japanese and the Russo-Japanese Wars. Repelled by
militarism, aristocracy, heroism and Japanese
conventional homogeneity and collectivism, he even
refused to wear a uniform at elementary school. He
regarded romanticism and sentimentalism as his
hypothetical enemy; he never accepted the priority of
emotions over theories, sensuality over artificiality and
collective solidarity over individuals. Studying the
French language under French teachers at Gyosei High
School, which was founded by a French Catholic order,
he became more and more interested in French culture,
which further fostered his unique character.
It was not until Matsudaira entered university that
he decided to become a professional musician. In 1925,
when he was specialising in French literature at Keio
University, he went to a six-evening concert series held
in Tokyo by the French composer and pianist Henri Gil-
Marchex, who presented an overview of music history
from Bach to Stravinsky. He was strongly impressed
and stimulated by this, and finally made up his mind to
become a composer, despite his limited musical
experience. He had been no more than an average music
lover, had tried playing the piano his sister was
studying, and had been moved by Leopold Godowsky's
interpretations of Chopin, during his visit to Japan in
1922.
Now awakened to music, Matsudaira started his
studies of the piano and music theory under Kosuke
Komatsu, a former pupil of Vincent d'Indy in Paris, and
of Charles Loutrup and Heinrich Werckmeister, then
teaching in Tokyo. Starting late, but showing
remarkable progress in a short period, he began to
publish his own works as early as late 1920s. He was
also active as a pianist around 1930, playing Debussy
and Satie, his favourite composers.
Matsudaira's interest in this period was directed to
strong attachment to artificial things, anti-romanticism
and French style neo-classicism, as was to be expected
from the French-orientation of his thinking. His idols
were Ravel, Poulenc, Milhaud and Tansman, the last a
Polish composer living in Paris. He tried to combine
their styles with Japanese traditional music, although he
was extremely selective in his use of Japanese styles. As
an anti-nationalist and an anti-sentimentalist, he
rejected secular festive music for the masses, and
Shamisen music which, combined with Kabuki and
Geisha, flourished in the Tokugawa Shogun era and was
still quite popular in the first half of the twentieth
century despite its sheer sentimentalism. One of his first
choices was folk-songs sung in the Nanbu district, the
north-eastern part of mainland Japan. Most of these
songs are peaceful and calm, but in terms of expression
he actually did not know how they were sung by the
Nanbu people. All he knew were the scores transcribed
by folk-music researchers. Using melodic material from
them, he created artificial paradise-like music, lacking
any element of earthiness, in a neo-classical, bitonal
style. The orchestral piece Pastoral written in this style
won second prize in the 1935 Tcherepnin Prize, which
was held in Paris by the Russian composer Alexander
Tcherepnin, who had spent long periods in Shanghai
and in Tokyo, with a view to introducing Japanese
works to the world. Among the jury were big names like
Roussel, Ibert, Honegger and Tansman. Another
orchestral piece Nanbu Folk-Songs also won an award
in the 1939 Weingartner Prize, which was held by the
conductor Felix Weingartner, then in Japan, with the
same purpose as Tcherepnin's award. In addition to
that, Tcherepnin sponsored the publication of
Matsudaira's piano and chamber pieces, along with
works by other Japanese composers of his generation,
including Yasuji Kiyose, Bun'ya Ko and Akira Ifukube.
These were published by G. Schirmer and Universal
Edition, and Matsudaira was widely recognised as one
of the leading Japanese composers of the new
generation. During this period, he studied with
Tcherepnin in Tokyo and was inspired by his idol
Tansman, who visited Japan at this time.
During World War II, Matsudaira was largely
silent. The trend of the times required patriotic,
rapturous, optimistic, or, in some cases, pathetic pieces,
but he had no intention of writing such music. He did
write some occasional pieces like Mongolian March for
brass band, but except for those few works, he shut
himself away and devoted most of his time to studying
further skills and to deepening his thoughts, continuing
to write music of his own, without any prospect of
performance. This period marked the shift of his interest
from the Nanbu folk-songs to Gagaku. Matsudaira was
not so much a Beethoven-type composer, creating
motifs for himself and developing them, but more akin
to Ravel or Stravinsky, who varies, metamorphoses and
refines pre-existing materials. He was, therefore, always
in need of material and he finally discovered an ideal
one, with which to play. It was Gagaku.
Among various types of Japanese traditional music,
Gagaku has one of the best lineages, in which native
Japanese music is integrated, under complex theories,
with music from China, Korea, India and Vietnam.
Most Gagaku pieces are instrumental, although some
are accompanied by songs and dances. Gagaku
developed gradually in the imperial court from the fifth
century, culminating during the ninth and tenth
centuries, and even today its basic instruments and
repertoire are mostly from those days. Gagaku boasts
several hundred pieces and various types of instrument,
including the sho (a kind of mouth organ), hichiriki
(oboe), ryuteki (flute), biwa (lute), and so (long zither).
Matsudaira was naturally charmed by Gagaku.
Descended from a courtly noble family, who enjoyed
and handed down Gagaku, he found here a type of
music that kept its ancient form, because it was played
only in the imperial court and in some temples, almost
disconnected from the masses. Its sounds, like the cold
sparkling of a jewel, stand aloof from time and, unlike
folk-songs, hardly reflect human feelings. These
features of Gagaku were quite agreeable to the
composer, who hated any easy combination of music
and emotions.
From war-time to the post-war period, Matsudaira
wrote piano and chamber pieces, combining Gagaku
idioms and the neo-classical style. These works, which
included two string quartets, a piano trio, and a cello
sonata, were played in a concert series held by Shin
Sakkyokuha Kyokai (New School of Composers), which
Matsudaira co-founded with Yasuji Kiyose and Fumio
Hayasaka. Toru Takemitsu, then an obscure, young
pupil of Kiyose, was later to join the Association.
The mid-1950s marked a major turning-point for
Matsudaira. He no longer tried to combine Gagaku with
neo-classicism, and embarked instead on a new attempt
to integrate Gagaku with dodecaphonism, serialism, and
other modern western techniques. Needless to say, this
bold change in style was closely related to the western
avant-garde movements after the 1950s, but it would
not be right to think that he hated being regarded as one
of the old generation and tried to go with the tide.
Probably he saw here a more comfortable aesthetic
position. Its serial, pointillistic sounds seemed to him a
good vehicle for abstract, cold beauty, transcending
human feelings. Its world of beauty was just what he
desired. In addition to this, Gagaku is equipped with
many elements that may fit with avant-garde music,
among them dissonances caused by the use of
polytonality and microtonality, aleatoric elements
derived from free rhythm, slow and indistinct tempos,
uneven rhythm, subtle glissandi. It was quite natural for
Matsudaira to seek to fuse Gagaku and avant-garde
music, since both are metaphysical, supra-emotional,
non-secular and abstract into unique, weird music,
where the ancient Orient and the modern Occident
meet. Tcherepnin described Matsudaira's neo-classical
music as ever-lasting celestial sound, like the celesta's
sound. That celestial sound was further refined by the
use of avant-garde techniques. He developed his own
'secret' skill of spinning a transparent twelve-tone
series out of the basically pentatonic melody of Gagaku,
while maintaining its original structure, and varying it
freely, as well as his 'magical' technique of
metamorphosing the rhythmic structure of Gagaku into
more complex, more flexible and non-cyclic
architecture, without sacrificing its innate character.
This new style was first applied to his Saibara
Metamorphosis (1953), Prelude, Aria, Canon, Theme
and Variations for the Radio (1954) and Figure Sonore
(1956), and was never to change until the very last
moment of his life, although it was deepened little by
little and became more and more free. Like Charles
Koechlin, Matsudaira wrote music day after day
without commissions. He kept writing music without
any prospect of performance and frequently entered the
music festival held by the International Society of
Contemporary Music (ISCM), winning many prizes.
The reason he persisted in entering the ISCM festival
was that he strongly hoped to demonstrate his abilities
to Japanese critics. One of them, indeed, criticized his
music as follows: 'He is no more than a dilettante, who
has no professional education. His skills are immature
and his works will not be accepted on the international
scene'.
Matsudaira's avant-garde works were more often
performed in Europe, especially at the ISCM festivals,
than in Japan, and many distinguished musicians took
up his pieces, including Hans Rosbaud, Pierre Boulez,
Bruno Maderna, Michael Gielen, Ernest Bour, Francis
Travis, Michel Tabachnik, Severino Gazzelloni, the
Kontarskys and Yvonne Loriod. Messiaen's Sept
Ha'ka' and Boulez's Rituel were written under the
influence of Matsudaira.
Matsudaira left many works even after 1950, his
stylistic turning-point, including two operas and over
fifty orchestral pieces. He died in Tokyo on 25th
October, 2001, at the age of 94. Many of his works have
yet to be performed. He is a composer now awaiting
further discovery. Incidentally, his son Yoriaki
Matsudaira is also a non-emotional composer. Many
Japanese composers studied with Yoritsune Matsudaira,
including Hifumi Shimoyama, Ryo Endo, Hidenao Ito,
Kenjiro Ezaki and Kazuo Fukushima.
Matsudaira's stylistic periods are roughly divided
into two by the 1950s. The first period saw the
combination of folk-song and Gagaku with French neoclassicism,
and the second period witnessed the
integration of Gagaku and post-war avant-garde
methods.
Theme and Variations for piano and orchestra was
written towards the end of the first period, but it already
prefigures the arrival of the second period, as a twelvetone
series is applied to some parts. Written in Tokyo
from July to September 1951, the work won a prize at
the 1952 ISCM festival and was first performed in
Salzburg on 29th June of the same year, with Eva
Wollman as soloist, and the Vienna Symphony
Orchestra under Ettore Gracis. In November of the
same year, Herbert von Karajan took up the piece in
Vienna, and he performed it again in Tokyo in 1954.
This is the only Japanese work that Karajan ever
conducted.
The main theme is taken from the Gagaku piece
Banshikicho Eten-Raku. Banshikicho is one of the six
tonalities of Gagaku. Gagaku is basically made up of
two types of pentatonic scale: Ritsu (C-D-F-G-A, if
started with C) and Ryo (C-D-E-G-A, if started with C).
Theoretically various tonalities are possible from the
two scale systems, but Gagaku uses only six of them:
three tonalities based on the Ritsu system, beginning
with E, A and B (called Hyodjo, Ohshikicho and
Banshikicho, respectively), and another three based on
the Ryo system, beginning with D, G and E
(Ichikotsucho, Sodjo and Taishikicho, respectively).
Banshikicho Eten-Raku, therefore, means "Eten-Raku
played in the tonality of Banshikicho". There exist two
more Eten-Raku in Hyodjo and in Ohshikicho, but these
three Eten-Raku are not just transposed ones and do not
possess the same melody, as the hichiriki, which often
plays the main theme, has a register of only one and a
half octaves and is unable to play the transposed
melody. In addition to this, each of the six tonalities of
Gagaku has its own combinations of melodic patterns
and modes of developing them, which means that each
Eten-Raku has different melodies according to its
tonality. This would never happen in the world of
western music. Furthermore, despite the fact that
Gagaku is based on one of the six tonalities, it is only
the main theme that is controlled by the tonality. As a
consequence, other tonalities and subtly changed
pitches are added as the music develops, which imbues
the whole music with elements of polytonality and
dissonance. The six tonalities are theoretically based
either on Ritsu or on Ryo, but in actual performances
they were considerably changed by the Japanese
inherent inclination for narrow intervals, which gives
rise to many minor seconds that are not intrinsic to Ritsu
and Ryo. Matsudaira loved to play with these
mysterious rules of Gagaku and tirelessly enjoyed the
discrepancy between theory and practice. Incidentally
the orchestral arrangement of Eten-Raku by Hidemaro
Konoye, contained in this Japanese Classics series
(8.555071) is based on Hyodjo Eten-Raku, where
melodies are heard that are quite different from those of
Matsudaira's Banshikicho Eten-Raku.
The work consists of the theme, six variations and
finale. The theme played by the orchestra keeps the
original Gagaku form as it is. The sounds of hichiriki
and ryuteki are imitated by woodwind, chords on the
sho are played by the violin section divided into three,
the plucked sounds of the biwa and so are replaced by
pizzicati, and various percussion effects peculiar to
Gagaku are realised by snare drums and bass drums. In
Variation I (Andante) the piano takes charge of the
melodic figurations in Gagaku. Variation II (Allegro) is
bitonal, as in Tansman and Milhaud. The frequent
arpeggios on the piano are made by breaking up the
chords on the sho. Variation III (Allegro), a kind of
rondo in an A-B-C-A-B form, consists of the theme and
three twelve-tone series derived from Hyodjo Eten-
Raku (although its original form is not evident). This
Variation III is one of the earliest examples of a
Japanese composer using twelve-tone technique.
Variation IV (Lento) is a bitonal nocturne. In Variation
V (Allegro), Gagaku and jazz meet. The piano part of
Variation VI (Allegro), a perpetual toccata, is based on
the original biwa part. Variation VI leads seamlessly to
the Finale (Lent), where the main theme is played
solemnly and the sounds of Gagaku go far back to
antiquity.
The other works included here were all written in
the late 1950s, when Matsudaira entered his second
period. While also seeking for materials in Gagaku, the
moods are quite different from that of Theme and
Variations for piano and orchestra. In these works he
attempts to integrate Gagaku with dodecaphonism, total
serialism and aleatoric methods.
U-Mai (Right Dance) was completed in Paris in
1957 and was first performed under the conductor
Ernest Bour in Darmstadt on 11th September of the
following year. Sa-Mai (Left Dance) was composed in
Tokyo in 1958. After winning a prize at the ISCM
festival, the work was first performed in Rome on 15th
June, 1959, by Michael Gielen and the Naples Radio
Chamber Orchestra. Danza Rituale e Finale (Enbou)
was written in Tokyo in 1959 to a commission from
NHK and was first given on 28th November of the same
year by Hiroyuki Iwaki and the NHK Symphony.
Independent pieces as they are, these three works can be
considered as a set, since they are all controlled by a
single series: A#-B-A-G#-G-D-C#-C-E-D#-F-F#. This
series consists only of four crucial intervals in Gagaku
(semitone, whole tone, major third and perfect fourth),
which can endlessly produce Gagaku patterns. In
addition to this, these three works have a close
relationship with Bugaku (dance music) in Gagaku.
Splitting the first part and the second part of Danza
Rituale e Finale (Enbou) and rearranging each
component in proper order will form a suite which fits
traditional Bugaku performance. The performance in
this recording follows this.
Bugaku was performed both for entertainment and
religious purposes, and in the latter case Enbou was
danced to purify the stage and the space. Enbou means
'pike', with which to exorcise the evil spirit. It is
accompanied by two yokobues (flutes: ryuteki and
komabue) and percussion, and it is thoroughly
improvisational in mood. Solo and canon in duet by the
yokobues alternate and the percussion punctuates. In
Danza Rituale e Finale, Enbou is serially
metamorphosed. The original solo by the yokobue is
represented in the Preludietto and Coda (both scored
for solo piccolo, triangle and bass drum), and the canon
is treated in Preludio (scored for piccolo, flute, oboe,
small clarinet and percussion). In Preludietto,
Matsudaira employs aleatoric methods, following
Stockhausen and Boulez, to express vividly the
improvisational feeling of Enbou. Preludietto consists
of thirteen fragments. The first one should be played
first, but the rest can be shuffled. In Preludio, consisting
of nine fragments, and Coda, with seven fragments, the
order from the third onwards can be arranged freely. In
this recording each fragment of Preludietto and Coda is
tracked so that the listener can freely rearrange the
order, but the fragments of Preludio are not tracked,
because they are played without pause.
In traditional Bugaku, Enbou is followed by Sa-Mai
(Left Dance) and then by U-Mai (Right Dance). Sa-Mai
is performed by a dancer in red who appears from the
left of the stage, and accordingly the movements of the
left side of the body are stressed. There exist many
pieces for Sa-Mai, most of which are said to have been
Japanized after their introduction from ancient China.
Instrumentation is only for wind and percussion,
without strings. Its sound is noble and graceful, and the
rhythm on percussion tends to be blurred. U-Mai is
danced by a dancer in green who appears from the right
side of the stage, and the movements of the right side of
the body are emphasized. U-Mai is also reflected in
many pieces, most of which are said to have been
introduced from ancient Korea. Instrumentation is also
for wind and percussion but, unlike Sa-Mai, without the
sho (mouth organ) which produces celestial chords. As
a consequence, the sounds of komabue and hichiriki
(oboe) are heard with a distinct percussion ostinato
rhythm. In that sense U-Mai is more simple, more
powerful and more scherzo-like than Sa-Mai.
Matsudaira's Sa-Mai and U-Mai successfully reflect
this left-against-right characteristic of Bugaku in its
total serialistic sound.
Sa-Mai is based on the dance music Genjo-Raku in
the Taishikicho tonality from Sa-Mai, and is scored for
ten wind instruments including saxophone, a variety of
percussion, celesta, harp, piano and fourteen strings
(which mainly imitate the sho chords). Genjo-Raku is
said to have originated in ancient China, depicting
barbarians from the west (who customarily eat snakes)
delighted to find snakes. In Introduzione the Enbou
from Danza Rituale is played once again. The canonic
Preludio accompanies the entry of the dancer (which is
called Derute), Interludio depicts players tuning
(Netori) before the main dance, Movimento Principale
corresponds to the main dance, and the again canonic
Finale accompanies the dancer's exit (Irute).
U-Mai is based on the dance music Nasori in the
Ichikotsucho tonality from U-Mai, and is scored for
nine wind instruments, many kinds of percussion, harp,
piano and string quartet. Nasori is said to be derived
from the ancient Chinese court, depicting a couple
(male and female) of dragons playing. This piece
consists of three parts: Jo (Introduction), Ha
(Development) and Kyu (Finale), each of which
respectively corresponds to two dancers' entry,
excitement and exit. The latter half of Kyu with the
ritardando mark accompanies the leaving dancers and,
when they disappear, the music closes. This is because
U-Mai, unlike Sa-Mai, does not have particular music
for the dancers' exit (Irute). The ritardando is
improvisational, according to the scene. The composer
instructs that Kyu can be terminated halfway, following
the practice of U-Mai, although it is all played in this
recording.
In the Bugaku performance, it is customary to play
Chogeishi in the Taishikicho tonality without dance,
after U-Mai and Sa-Mai. It is a noble piece composed
by Hiromasa Minamaoto, a nobleman of the tenth
century. The audience leave the hall while it is being
played. Danza Finale is based on this Chogeishi and is
scored for an irregular two-wind-based orchestra,
including soprano and alto saxophones. The music is
richer in timbre and more flexible in rhythm and tempo
than Sa-Mai and U-Mai. The fantastic ritual of Bugaku
Matsudaira created is closed by this colloidal, celestial
music.
Morihide Katayama
Theme and Variations for Piano and Orchestra (more info)
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Theme: Molto lento - Adagio - 3:10
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Variation I: Andante - 2:38
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Variation II: Allegro - 1:35
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Variation III: Allegro - 1:17
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Variation IV: Lento - Agitato - Lento - 3:15
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Variation V: Allegro - 2:00
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Variation VI: Allegro (Toccata meccanica) - Lento - 3:15
Danza Rituale e Finale (Enbou) (more info)
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Preludietto: Fragment 1 - 0:12
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Preludietto: Fragment 9 - 0:13
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Preludietto: Fragment 5 - 0:14
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Preludietto: Fragment 12 - 0:11
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Preludietto: Fragment 8 - 0:14
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Preludietto: Fragment 4 - 0:15
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Preludietto: Fragment 2 - 0:12
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Preludietto: Fragment 6 - 0:15
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Preludietto: Fragment 10 - 0:10
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Preludietto: Fragment 11 - 0:13
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Preludietto: Fragment 7 - 0:11
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Preludietto: Fragment 3 - 0:11
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Preludietto: Fragment 13 - 0:13
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Preludio (6 Fragments) - 2:00
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Coda: Fragment A - 1 - 0:39
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Coda: Fragment A - 5 - 0:11
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Coda: Fragment A - 3 - 0:13
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Coda: Fragment A - 4 - 0:13
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Coda: Fragment A - 2 - 0:14
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Coda: Fragment A - 6 - 0:18
Sa-Mai (more info)
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Introduzione - 2:13
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Preludio - 3:35
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Interludio - 0:32
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Movimento principale - 8:50
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Finale - 6:15
U-Mai (Danza antica nello stile della Corte Giapponese) (more info)
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I. Jo (Piccolo preludio) - 2:16
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II. Ha (Movimento principale) - 6:10
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III. Kyu (Finale) - 5:53
Danza Rituale e Finale (Chogeishi) (more info)
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Danza Finale - 10:36
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