Aioi: leaves laden with words (2022)

for ensemble (unspecified instruments) and electronics

Created for Quiet Music Ensemble as part of Noh Research Project 2019-21, Tokyo, Japan.

Performances:
Premiere: 2022: Solstice Arts Centre, Navan – Quiet Music Ensemble

Programme note:
Aioi: leaves laden with words is based on the Japanese Noh play Takasago, the imagery of the pine and the space between worlds. The pine is a symbol of longevity and for liminality, for the rocking back and forth between the imagined and the real.

The score for Aioi: leaves laden with words is a set of 6 unique paintings, one for each performer - versions of the pine tree found at the back of the Noh stage. The performers improvise in response to their painting, to the story of Takasago, and the sound of wind in the pines.