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Kondo: Bonjin & Chamber Music / Ensemble l'Art pour l'Art

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Details

Composer
KONDO, JO
Artist
ENSEMBLE L?ART POUR L?ART
Format
CD
Label
Wergo
Released
Nov 18, 2016
Catalog #
WER73422
UPC
4010228734225

About

What happens if the composer and the listener are the same person? This is exactly what Jo Kondo’s way of composing implies. If the composer is to be nothing but a curious listener, he must be able to surprise himself. He must rid himself of all prior knowledge or intention. Born in Tokyo in 1947, Jo Kondo was influenced throughout his entire education almost exclusively by traditional Western art music. Like so many of his Western colleagues, he feels this to be both a limitation and the greatest challenge to the creative process. “The music one grows up with is like a cage one has to break out of.” The type of improvisation that Jo Kondo employs is only loosely related to improvisation as it is commonly understood. Kondo does not improvise using an instrument, but with music paper, note by note. “I write down the first note, which can be anything, and then I try to listen to it again and again in my head until the second note appears. Then I write it down, and then I listen to these two notes again and again until the third note comes up. And then, repeating this process, I always go back to the top of the music to find the next note. That means that when I have 150 notes already in succession on my paper, I find number 151 by going back to the top of the piece and listening through from the top to the 150th note to find the next note. That’s what I mean by improvisation.” - Jo Kondo All of Jo Kondo’s pieces have been written using this method. The result is a completely linear music that avoids any kind of obvious phrasing, melody, or motivic development, permitting the individual note to retain “its own entity of life”. Since even a musical line can endanger this fragile autonomy, Kondo distributes the notes among the various instrumental parts. This “hocket” technique, which has been used since the thirteenth century, demands enormous rhythmic virtuosity from the performers to avoid disrupting the organic unity of the extremely fragmented line. Thus, there is space left for the listener to create his own phrasing out of it.

Tracklist 16 tracks

  1. 1 Bonjin 07:06
    Track
    1
    Title
    Bonjin
    Duration
    07:06
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  2. 2 Pergola 08:42
    Track
    2
    Title
    Pergola
    Duration
    08:42
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  3. 3 Lotus Dam 03:37
    Track
    3
    Title
    Lotus Dam
    Duration
    03:37
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  4. 4 Calamintha 09:23
    Track
    4
    Title
    Calamintha
    Duration
    09:23
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Performer
    Michael Schröder
  5. 5 No. 1. — 03:45
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 1. —
    Duration
    03:45
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  6. 6 No. 2. — 01:10
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 2. —
    Duration
    01:10
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  7. 7 No. 3. — 01:30
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 3. —
    Duration
    01:30
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  8. 8 No. 4. — 01:02
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 4. —
    Duration
    01:02
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  9. 9 No. 5. — 01:21
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 5. —
    Duration
    01:21
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  10. 10 No. 6. — 03:11
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 6. —
    Duration
    03:11
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  11. 11 Dithyramb 09:18
    Track
    11
    Title
    Dithyramb
    Duration
    09:18
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  12. 12 Strands III 07:23
    Track
    12
    Title
    Strands III
    Duration
    07:23
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  13. 13 Twayn 09:01
    Track
    13
    Title
    Twayn
    Duration
    09:01
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  14. 14 I. — 04:25
    Track
    14
    Title
    I. —
    Duration
    04:25
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  15. 15 II. — 01:20
    Track
    15
    Title
    II. —
    Duration
    01:20
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art
  16. 16 III. — 03:27
    Track
    16
    Title
    III. —
    Duration
    03:27
    Composer
    Jo Kondo
    Ensemble
    L'Art Pour L'Art