Tetsunosuke KUSHIDA

This is a paraphrase of the travelogue "The Narrow Road" by the haiku poet Matsuo Basho. I have written this piece as an acoustic rendition of my impressions of five haiku poems in their original order that seeks to capture their imagery in a pictorial way.

My capricious paraphrase of the poems as a haikai was also my way of freely indulging in impressions that had formed in my own mind.

It was both a challenge and a source of great pleasure for me to figure out the number of notes that I should use in a musical phrase to capture a haiku with 17 syllables and how I could depict the state of mental tranquility using the language of music. The result is a work that fuses the Japanese spirit with Western learning. I look forward to your interpretation of haiku poetry through music.

Opening:
The opening portrays the narrator's determination to make every day a journey and the journey itself his home, while also giving voice to the narrator's state of mind as he takes the plunge and leaves home to begin his journey. The thick tone of the chorale is the result of musical phrases that require drawing in a deeper breath.

B:
After several anxious days, the traveler reaches the Shirakawa Barrier, which lifts his spirits somewhat. This section depicts the traveler on the road, and the melody here has a quick tempo that captures the brisk footsteps of passers-by.

E:
The lone traveler falls into a pensive state of mind as he starts to doze off. The trombone performs a slow, subdued solo in tempo rubato that contains passages with powerful emotions.

H:
Only the mountains and rivers survive from the glorious days of three Fujiwara generations, and the loneliness brings a tear to the eye. This section opens with scenes of battle, and the melody builds up powerfully and decisively. The percussion section combines its many instruments to bring forth the band's unique tone here, with the combination of Latin percussion instruments and Japanese taiko drums creating a distinctive sound. The closing timpani solo unfolds intensely, symbolizing the final moments of the warlords.

L:
The final section features a majestic chorale, where the piccolo, flute, vibraphone, and marimba combine to depict the shining light of brilliant stars. The music evokes vibrant images of galaxies suspended in the night sky of Izumozaki, Echigo, from which Sado Island can be seen across the rolling waves. The piece closes with a Coda that portrays rough waves crashing against the shore.

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