Pipa Xing
琵琶行
| [Composed] | Ifukube Akira - Koto - 1999 |
Pipa Xing appears on the following albums
| Album | Artist | |
 | Pipa Xing - Works of Akira Ifukube |
Koto : Nosaka Keiko |
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This piece was commissioned by Keiko NOSAKA, and this recording predates its public premiere (which is scheduled for November 13, 1999) Although Keiko NOSAKA's 25~stringed koto is a new development of the early nineties, a 25-stringed zither by the name of se (Japanese shitsu) was an important instrument of ancient China. Its muted elegance was often the subject of poetry, A legend concerning its origin can be found in the Classic of Poetry(Shi-jing), while an excellent example of the instrument, with its strings intact and movable bridges still standing, was unearthed in 1972 tram the Ma Wang Dui tomb in Changsa, Hunan Province, which dates back to the second century B,C, Although the Japanese koto and the Chinese se differ somewhat in construction, it is of great significance that we can again hear the possibilities of the 25~stringed zither after so many centuries. The piece was inspired by the narrative poem Pipa Xing (The Lute Ballad) by the Chinese Tang-dynasty poet Bo Ju-yi (772-846), He is said to have written this poem when he had been relegated to a minor governmental position in the provincial town of Jiujiang, on a branch of the Yangzi River. One autumn evening, he went to the riverside to farewell a visiting friend. Exchanging cups of farewell in the boat by which his friend was to depart, they heard the sound of someone playing the 4-stringed lute pipa in a nearby boat. Reminded of the old performance style of the capital, the poet asked the player where she was from, and learned that she had indeed once been a celebrated player at the Imperial court of Chang'an. Struck by their shared misfortune, he requested another piece, and she replied with a fast but mournful tune that left its audience in tears in the light of the autumn moon reflected on the surface of the river. The composition borrows some aspects of the form of the poem, and has a free three-part structure, It is approximately 22 minutes in duralion. - Akira Ifukube | ||