In the end of August, 2016, I received a mail from my friend, French conductor, Loïc Pierre. It surprised me because it informed me that it was written a few hours before his operation of his broken right shoulder due to epilepsy. More surprisingly, he was planning new project in the bed. His project was to show his respect on Veljo Tormis, a great composer in Estonia with pieces which remade Scandinavian melodies with unique ideas.
I was selected as one of composers of this project. My assigned work was to compose a piece based on Norwegian sacred song, that is, “Jeg ser deg, o Guds Lam”, simple and beautiful melody.
Using the Japanese lyrics, I aimed to recreate the image of the tranquil pulse of life in this hymn in the following way:
“It begins with unison by simple women’s voices, then two voices like Organum sound. Soon, Tenor and Bass are “fallen”. Four voices homophony creates more mysterious space by changing tonality. It is rich space produced by human and nature.”
When I finished the composition in May, 2017, Veljo Tormis had already passed away. It makes me think why it could represent our mysterious world.
Loïc and Mikrokosmos Chamber Chorus expressed my hyper-dimensional worldview splendidly. They performed more tones that I composed, with their rich and clear harmonic tones. I wish all of you could perform this wonders of the world.
Printed score and digital score are prepared. Please choose one below.
Composer: Ko Matsushita
Lyricist: Minami Ebihara
Parts: SATB
Accompaniment: A cappella
Language: Japanese
Performance duration: 4’25”
Pages: 8
==Performance Information==
Conductor: Loïc Pierre
Choir: Chœur Mikrokosmos
