Cherry Blossom And A Wrapped Thing; After Hokusai

Judith Shatin

About this work:
Cherry Blossom and a Wrapped Thing: After Hokusai was inspired by a print of the same name made by the extraordinary Japanese printmaker known as Hokusai (1760 - 1849). I encountered it in a sumptuous collection of his prints at the Otani Museum in Tokyo and was immediately struck by the subtle mystery of both its subject matter and execution. The cherry blossom speaks of the beauty and brevity of life; the wrapped thing of its ineffability. My compositional response is scored for amplified clarinet and multichannel audio. The electronics were made from cuttings of a previous piece commissioned by clarinetist F. Gerard Errante, to whom the piece is dedicated. They have been transformed into an entirely different form and take root in new ways, wrapping around the performer and audience, sometimes drifting to earth, sometimes floating above. The sound processing and multi-channel audio path were designed using RTcmix.
Version: 1
Year composed: 2004
Duration: 00:08:00
Ensemble type: Electronic Instruments and Sound Sources:Prerecorded Sound and Live Instrument(s)
Instrumentation: 1 Clarinet
Instrumentation notes: Amplified clarinet and either 8-channel or stereo playback.

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