in the introduction, polyrhythms and irregular groupings are laced throughout the piece. From 2:3 and 3:4 to the more jarring 5:6 and 6:7 rhythmic ratios, the performers are required to maintain strict synchronization during seemingly chaotic passages in the middle of the piece. The turmoil eventually subsides and Wind Trace ends just as it began. The return to this material reflects the cyclical nature of the seasons, which, as Ichiyanagi explains, is the basis for the piece: It was my intention to write for just one instrument, but there were so many good players at that time, I decided to write for a trio. In Japan, we have many names for subtle differences in the type of wind, or rain - even now we don't think in terms of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. We consider there to be twenty-four seasons. In fact, to expand on that idea, some people think in terms of seventy-two seasons in a year. This is very interesting because there are many subtle differences. And in that sense, this piece traces the wind over those many seasons. Each of the twentyfour seasons have names, and some are connected to the snow, and some are connected to insects. ALEXANDROS D. FRAGISKATOS, PERCUSSION WITH CLARICE COLLINS, VIOLIN JULIANA WITT, PIANO CY MIESSLER, PERCUSSION ZACH PARIS, PERCUSSION DOCTORAL RECITAL SERIES KATZIN CONCERT HALL SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017•12:00 P.M. ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY School of Music Rhythm Gradation Program Toshi Ichiyanagi (b. 1933) Perspective II (1996) for percussion Ballade (2007) for marimba lchiyanagi Trio Interlink (1990) for violin, piano, and percussion Ichiyanagi with Clarice Collins, violin Juliana Witt, piano Though not published until 1997, Rhythm Gradation was written and first performed in 1993. The timpani solo was commissioned and premiered by Atsushi Sugahara, current percussion professor at the Tokyo College of Music. The unique scoring of the piece, which assigns each timpano its own staff, creates a visual challenge for the performer but suggests the importance of each drum as its own voice; rather than combining one instrument, each timpano functions interdependently with the other timpani throughout the composition. Though scored for only four timpani, the large range of Rhythm Gradation (D2 to C4) could necessitate the use of a fifth, depending on the range of the smallest timpano. Extended techniques employed by Ichiyanagi include glissandi, quarter tones and striking the bowl of the timpano. The glissando in particular is the fundamental compositional tool in several sections of the piece. As the title suggests, lchiyanagi explores rhythms across a large spectrum and challenges his audience to confront their own modes of rhythmic interpretation. Essentially, the piece devolves from structured rhythms and precise pitch, to constantly-shifting rhythmic groupings of indeterminate relative pitches, and ultimately to free and proportional graphic notation. In this way, lchiyanagi challenges not only the performer, but our traditional concepts of rhythm, time, pitch, and structure. -IntermissionWind Trace Rhythm Gradation (1997) for timpani Ichiyanagi Wind Trace (1984) for three keyboard percussion Ichiyanagi with Cy Miessler, percussion Zach Paris, percussion *************** Out of respect for the performers and those audience members around you, please switch all beepers, cell phones, and watches to their silent mode. Thank you. With identical instrumentation of marimba, vibraphone, and crotales, Wind Trace is reminiscent of Toru Takemitsu's 1981 trio Rain Tree, a piece that has become a staple in the contemporary percussion repertoire. Given that lchiyanagi and Takemitsu were friends, it should come as no shock that the latter's work largely influences Wind Trace. Commissioned by Group 3 Marimba, Wind Trace was premiered in Tokyo at the 1984 Music Today Festival, which was arranged by Takemitsu. Of note is the discrepancy in the score, which indicates that the famed Toronto-based percussion group NEXUS commissioned Wind Trace. Founding member Bob Becker explains that they had never asked or paid for a piece by Ichiyanagi, and that the acknowledgement on the score was probably meant as a dedication. Ichiyanagi heard the group perform pieces (including Rain Tree) several times throughout the '70s and '80s in Japan and likely wrote it with them in mind. Incidentally, their premiere of Wind Trace was given by Atsushi Sugahara, Sumire Yoshihara, and Yasunori Yamaguchi, the same percussionists who premiered Rain Tree. While highly chromatic, Wind Trace avoids serialist techniques. The opening motive in the vibraphone is the seed from which all melodic content is generated. The piece can be broadly divided into two large sections - slow and fast - with a short return to the opening material at the end. Chromatic saturation, or a high concentration of all chromatic pitches, is abundant within and often between parts. The rhythmic language increases in complexity as the piece unfolds. Foreshadowed Toshi lchiyanagi (b. 1933) has long been one of Japan's leading composers. However, despite having maintained a successful career in Japan since the 1960s, he is not well known in the United States. Ichiyanagi began his musical training under the tutelage ofTomojiro Ikenouchi and Chierko Hara before enrolling at the Juilliard School in 1954. Here he studied composition with Vincent Persichetti and piano with Beveridge Webster, graduating in 1958. During the late 1950s, Ichiyanagi was deeply inspired by the avant-garde through his friendship with John Cage and marriage to performance artist Yoko Ono. Ichiyanagi's association with the Fluxus movement, along with Cage's integration of Eastern philosophies in music, had a profound impact on his compositional style. In 1962, after his return to Tokyo, he and Ono organized a tour for Cage which shocked classical musicians of Japan - they had never heard anything like it. Since then, Ichiyanagi has become a force in Japanese avant-garde music, despite excursions into other genres like minimalism and traditional Japanese music. As a composer of percussion music, Ichiyanagi's output of over two dozen works spans multiple genres including solo marimba, timpani, and multiple percussion to percussion chamber, mixed chamber, and concerti. The most popular among these are his marimba solos The Source and Portrait ofForest. At the age of 83, Ichiyanagi is still an active composer, having recently completed a marimba concerto in 2011 and his eighth and ninth symphonies in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Perspectives II Commissioned by the Japan Musical Education and Culture Promotion Society in 1996, Perspectives I/was composed as an obligatory work for the second stage of the 13th Japan Wind and Percussion Competition. Ichiyanagi seems to have an appreciation for varying "perspectives," as he composed other pieces titled Perspectives, one in 1978 for Noh-dance and mixed chamber ensemble and another in 1986 for solo violin. In the solo percussion version, Ichiyanagi calls for antique cymbals, marimba, mokusho (Japanese woodblock), roto-tom, tam-tam, tom-toms, and vibraphone. Perspectives II is divided into three sections. The outer sections are marked by free-flowing material that, while meterless, are mostly notated in strict rhythm. The glissing roto-tom, speeding up and slowing down in proportional notation, serves to divide the opening into three subsections. Tension builds and a rush of energy is released in the quick middle section, which is composed in alternating irregular and regular meters. It begins as a duet for marimba and tomtom accompaniment before the marimba takes over completely, though maintaining the .impression of two independent voices. Oscillating octatonic and whole-tone figures are salient throughout, often harmonized at the major sixth. One wonders from which perspective Ichiyanagi intends this series of works to be interpreted - his own, the performer's, the audience's, or perhaps the musical material itself, in contrasting contexts? Ballade Though it can be played on any five-octave marimba, Ballade was written for the uniquely crafted cello-marimba. Builder Saburo Mizuno, who only produced about twenty of them, used wooden resonators instead of the standard aluminum. Ichiyanagi admired how the quality or timbre of the sound, but not the dynamic, was softer than that of the typical the marimba. Ballade was commissioned in 2002 by Japanese percussionist Mutsuko Taneya, who taught at both Kyoto University of Art and Design and Soai University. Since medieval times, the term ballade has referred to a musical setting of a narrative poem. By the 19th century, composers began writing ballades for solo piano, and, in more recent times, for other instruments as well. Ballade, in three-part form, is replete with theatrical writing that is suggestive of a story. From the suspenseful opening, with its disorienting juxtapositions of pentatonic scales, to the lively, spinning middle section, to the ominous close, the story likely ends with more questions than answers. Like much of his mallet writing, Ichiyanagi' s pianistic tendencies are on full display here: large leaps, wide ranges, extreme independence of hands, one-handed tremolos, and layering of voices all make Ballade as dramatic as it is technically demanding. Trio Interlink The only trio of its kind in Ichiyanagi's output, Trio Interlink was commissioned by the 7t1t Interlink Festival in Tokyo, where it was given its premiere by the AbelSteinberg-Winant Trio in 1990. The critically-acclaimed group comprises violinist David Abel, pianist Julie Steinberg, and percussionist William Winant. Formed in 1984, the group continues to specialize in new music by composers from the Americas and the Pacific Rim, having commissioned and premiered over twentyfive works. For eight years, they held a residency at Mills College, where Winant still teaches percussion. In Trio Interlink, the percussionist is called to use vibraphone, tom-tom, marimba, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, and mokusho. The piece is in two parts: a slow, quasi-rubato first section followed by a tireless second section in strict meter. In the latter half are several free interjections reminiscent of the opening material, including solos traded between each of the performers. Ichiyanagi achieves a variety of sounds from the violinist through quarter tones, a double trill, and instructions for sul ponticello (bowing near t4e bridge) and con sordino (with mute). Dense layering of polyrhythms between performers sometimes threes, fours, fives, and sixes simultaneously - creates a chaotic yet calculated climax in the middle of the piece. Towards the end, Ichiyanagi makes use of pattern-based composition, in which the performers cycle through their own patterns of varying length. Here, the sixteenth note remains the only common link, while the vertical relation between performers constantly shifts. Rhythm Gradation Program Toshi Ichiyanagi (b. 1933) Perspective II (1996) for percussion Ballade (2007) for marimba lchiyanagi Trio Interlink (1990) for violin, piano, and percussion Ichiyanagi with Clarice Collins, violin Juliana Witt, piano Though not published until 1997, Rhythm Gradation was written and first performed in 1993. The timpani solo was commissioned and premiered by Atsushi Sugahara, current percussion professor at the Tokyo College of Music. The unique scoring of the piece, which assigns each timpano its own staff, creates a visual challenge for the performer but suggests the importance of each drum as its own voice; rather than combining one instrument, each timpano functions interdependently with the other timpani throughout the composition. Though scored for only four timpani, the large range of Rhythm Gradation (D2 to C4) could necessitate the use of a fifth, depending on the range of the smallest timpano. Extended techniques employed by Ichiyanagi include glissandi, quarter tones and striking the bowl of the timpano. The glissando in particular is the fundamental compositional tool in several sections of the piece. As the title suggests, lchiyanagi explores rhythms across a large spectrum and challenges his audience to confront their own modes of rhythmic interpretation. Essentially, the piece devolves from structured rhythms and precise pitch, to constantly-shifting rhythmic groupings of indeterminate relative pitches, and ultimately to free and proportional graphic notation. In this way, lchiyanagi challenges not only the performer, but our traditional concepts of rhythm, time, pitch, and structure. -IntermissionWind Trace Rhythm Gradation (1997) for timpani Ichiyanagi Wind Trace (1984) for three keyboard percussion Ichiyanagi with Cy Miessler, percussion Zach Paris, percussion *************** Out of respect for the performers and those audience members around you, please switch all beepers, cell phones, and watches to their silent mode. Thank you. With identical instrumentation of marimba, vibraphone, and crotales, Wind Trace is reminiscent of Toru Takemitsu's 1981 trio Rain Tree, a piece that has become a staple in the contemporary percussion repertoire. Given that lchiyanagi and Takemitsu were friends, it should come as no shock that the latter's work largely influences Wind Trace. Commissioned by Group 3 Marimba, Wind Trace was premiered in Tokyo at the 1984 Music Today Festival, which was arranged by Takemitsu. Of note is the discrepancy in the score, which indicates that the famed Toronto-based percussion group NEXUS commissioned Wind Trace. Founding member Bob Becker explains that they had never asked or paid for a piece by Ichiyanagi, and that the acknowledgement on the score was probably meant as a dedication. Ichiyanagi heard the group perform pieces (including Rain Tree) several times throughout the '70s and '80s in Japan and likely wrote it with them in mind. Incidentally, their premiere of Wind Trace was given by Atsushi Sugahara, Sumire Yoshihara, and Yasunori Yamaguchi, the same percussionists who premiered Rain Tree. While highly chromatic, Wind Trace avoids serialist techniques. The opening motive in the vibraphone is the seed from which all melodic content is generated. The piece can be broadly divided into two large sections - slow and fast - with a short return to the opening material at the end. Chromatic saturation, or a high concentration of all chromatic pitches, is abundant within and often between parts. The rhythmic language increases in complexity as the piece unfolds. Foreshadowed in the introduction, polyrhythms and irregular groupings are laced throughout the piece. From 2:3 and 3:4 to the more jarring 5:6 and 6:7 rhythmic ratios, the performers are required to maintain strict synchronization during seemingly chaotic passages in the middle of the piece. The turmoil eventually subsides and Wind Trace ends just as it began. The return to this material reflects the cyclical nature of the seasons, which, as Ichiyanagi explains, is the basis for the piece: It was my intention to write for just one instrument, but there were so many good players at that time, I decided to write for a trio. In Japan, we have many names for subtle differences in the type of wind, or rain - even now we don't think in terms of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. We consider there to be twenty-four seasons. In fact, to expand on that idea, some people think in terms of seventy-two seasons in a year. This is very interesting because there are many subtle differences. And in that sense, this piece traces the wind over those many seasons. Each of the twentyfour seasons have names, and some are connected to the snow, and some are connected to insects. ALEXANDROS D. FRAGISKATOS, PERCUSSION WITH CLARICE COLLINS, VIOLIN JULIANA WITT, PIANO CY MIESSLER, PERCUSSION ZACH PARIS, PERCUSSION DOCTORAL RECITAL SERIES KATZIN CONCERT HALL SUNDAY, JANUARY 22, 2017•12:00 P.M. ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY School of Music