afar by Wakana Ikeda / Stefan Thut

Wakana Ikeda is a flute player based in Tokyo. Her activities range widely, from performances of composed works to improvised music to pop. In spring 2016 she formed the Suidobashi Chamber Ensemble together with Yoko Ikeda (viola), Aya Naito (bassoon), Masahiko Okura (clarinet, bass clarinet), and Taku Sugimoto (guitar). That year the album "Suidobashi Chamber Ensemble," featuring their performances of works by Wandelweiser composers, was released on the Meenna label.

Stefan Thut is a composer and cellist residing in Solothurn, Switzerland. While touring Europe in autumn 2017, Wakana Ikeda, Yoko Ikeda, Taku Sugimoto and Minami Saeki (voice) made a recording in Solothurn with Stefan Thut and another Swiss composer, Manfred Werner. That recording became the CD "Sextet," which was released on Meenna the following year.

Stefan Thut visited Japan in autumn 2019 and performed a number of concerts. On October 3, he appeared with Wakana Ikeda at Nanahari in Tokyo. This CD's only track documents the 35-minute performance of "afar" presented at that concert by Ikeda on flute and Thut on cello. Composed by Thut in 2019, "afar" has as its underlying foundation of the composition "O Padua sidus praeclarum," by the medieval Italian composer Johannes Ciconia.

池田若菜は東京在住のフルート奏者。作曲作品の演奏から即興音楽、ポピュラー音楽まで活動範囲は広い。2016年春には、池田陽子 (ヴィオラ)、内藤彩 (ファゴット)、大蔵雅彦 (クラリネット、バス・クラリネット)、杉本拓 (ギター) と共に Suidobashi Chamber Ensemble を結成し、同年、ヴァンデルヴァイザー派の作曲家の作品を演奏したアルバム『Suidobashi Chamber Ensemble』(Meenna) をリリースする。

Stefan Thut はスイス、ゾロトゥルン在住の作曲家、チェロ奏者。2017年秋に、池田若菜、池田陽子、杉本拓、佐伯美波 (ヴォイス) が欧州をツアーした際、4人はゾロトゥルンで Stefan Thut、同じスイスの作曲家 Manfred Werder のふたりと合流し、6人でレコーディングをおこない、それは翌年『Sextet』(Meenna) と題してCD化されている。

Stefan Thut は2019年秋に来日し、数回コンサートをおこなった。10月3日には、池田若菜と共に東京の「七針」に出演。本CDにはその時の、池田のフルートと Thut のチェロによる「afar」の演奏 (35分) 1曲を収録している。「afar」は中世イタリアの作曲家、ヨハンネス・チコーニア (Johannes Ciconia) の作品「おお、美しき星パドヴァよ」("O Padua sidus praeclarum") を下敷きにして、Thut が2019年に作曲した作品。終始、一音一音が引き延ばされて、ゆっくりと流れていく。

---------------------------------------

Liner notes by Stefan Thut

The notes forming the 72 fragments of the score "afar" are transcribed from a composition by Johannes Ciconia (c.1370-1412), precisely from the motet "O padua, sidus praeclarum." As opposed to copying an entire work, I cut out all of the syllabic content, word for word, leaving aside the long melismatic trails. Ciconia must have been an eminent figure for the development of a new contrapuntal style in Europe. His technique is not yet homogenous regarding compositional rules compared to those of other composers to follow. Through his originality and variation in polyphonal writing, for me he is an admirable figure. Together with the fine flute player and composer Wakana Ikeda, we have had the pleasure to experience Ciconia's intertwined particles in a new light and pace. What counts for me here is the feeling for playing next to each other rather than matching a fixed contrapuntal structure.