Jacques lbert : Ouverture de Fete

The Meiji Government fixed the date of the nation's founding at the beginning of Emperor Jinmu's reign in the year 660 B.C., this date being calculated on the basis of the ancient records Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, and it was officially used until Japan's defeat in 1945. Thus, the year 1940 marked the 2,600th anniversary of the nation's founding according to this calculation. The government wished to make this a great event in order to enhance the national prestige and accordingly. planned a variety of celebrations. Among them were the Olympic Games and an international exposition, both of which had to be cancelled due to the worsening international situation. There was also a plan to commission foreign composers to write pieces of music to celebrate the occasion. The Japanese government asked six countries to choose and commission suitable composers, but the United States declined in view of worsening sentiment toward Japan. As a result, five works from frve countries were produced. They were "Festmusik zu Feier des 2600 Jahringen Bestehens des Kaiserreich Japan" by Richard Strauss (Germany), "Symphony in A" by Ildebrando Pizzetti (Italy), '"Symphony No. 1 in Japanese Style" by Sandor Veress (Hungary) "Sinfonia da Requiem" by Benjamin Britten (Britain) and "Ouverture de Fete" by Jacques Ibert (France). The Britten work was not performed, partly due to the score's late arrival and partly because it was not thought to "have the content of celebratory music extolling the spirit of Emperor Jinmu." (But Britten's fee was duly paid; it amounted a huge \7,000 or about \10 million in present-day money. Ibert no doubt received about the same amount). Thus, four compositions made their world debut at the Tokyo Kabuki-za Theatre on December 14, 1940, performed by a Festival Symphony Orchestra specially assembled for the occasion. Koscak Yamada conducted the Ibert work.

　Ibert's "Ouverture de Fete" is perhaps one of the noblest and most powerful of his many orchestral works. Following an introduction in which wells up a feeling of great joy, there begins a splendid fugue based on a noble theme. In the middle section a saxophone plays a gentle lullaby-like melody which is repeated and varied, building up its energy until the fugue theme reappears leading to an overwhelming finale .
　When this work was given its first French performance in 1942 under the baton of Charles Munch, the composer Honegger commented: "This work can be compared to a Bach toccata. It closely resembles one. It gives the impression of being a complete triumph with its imposing structure, expressive themes and absolutely confident orchestral writing."

Toru Takemitsu : A String Around Autumn

　　The year 1989 marked the 200th anniversary of the outbreak of the French Revolution. "A String Around Autumn" was commissioned for the Festival d'Automne a Paris and performed in Paris on November 39 with Nobuko Imai as the viola soloist and the Orchestre de Paris under the baton of Kent Nagano.
　Takemitsu had this to say about the composition. "This work is an imaginary landscape woven by various fragmentary melodic motifs which stem from a stream like a main string. The solo viola plays the role of someone contemplating Nature in this autumn landscape. I dedicate this music to the people of France who produced Debussy and Messiaen, who influenced my music most deeply."

　"A stream like a main string" which appears in the abovequotation refers to the strange upward-moving scale E, F# A, B, C, D, F, A♭ which emerges from a set of three perfect fourths E-A, F#-B and A-D and a pair of minor sixths A-F and C-A♭ . From here a variety of subject matter is introduced and a fabric of aesthetic sound is woven in a manner characteristic of Takemitsu's late period. The title of this piece is taken from a poem by Makoto Ooka.

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