Yuasa, JÖji
Yuasa, JÖji
Yuasa, JÖji, Japanese composer and teacher; b. Koriyama, Aug. 12,1929. He was a premed student at Keio Univ. As a composer, he was autodidact. In 1952 he became active with the Jikkenkobo (Experimental Workshop) in Tokyo. In 1968-69 he held a Japan Soc. fellowship. He served as composer-in-residence at the Univ. of Calif. at San Diego in 1976, and then was in Berlin under the auspices of the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst in 1976-77. From 1981 to 1984 he was on the faculty of the Univ. of Calif. at San Diego, and then was a teacher in the art dept. of the graduate school at Nihon Univ. and at the Tokyo Coll. of Music. Yuasa has received numerous commissions and honors. In 1966 and 1967 he won the Prix Italia. He received the Otaka Prize in 1972, 1988, and 1997. In 1973 and 1983 he took the Grand Prize at the Japan Arts Festival. He won the Hida-Furukawa Music Grand Prize in 1995, the same year that he received the Kyoto Music Grand Prize. In 1996 he won the Suntory Music Prize. In his output, Yuasa has found inspiration in both the Western and non-Western traditions.
Works
dramatic: Film scores. ORCH.: Projection—Flower, Bird, Wind, Moon for 8 Kotos and Orch. (Bunka Hoso, Nov. 24, 1967); Chronoplastic—Between Stasis and Kinesis (NHK, Tokyo, Nov. 15,1972); TIME of Orchestral Time (1975-76; Tokyo, April 23,1977); Requiem (1980); Suite SCENES from Bashô (1980-89; 1st complete perf., NY., Feb. 23,1990); A Perspective for Orchestra (NHK, Tokyo, Nov. 1983); Revealed Time for Viola and Orch. (Tokyo, Oct. 3, 1986); Hommage à Sibelius—The Midnight Sun (Helsinki, May 3, 1991); Eye on Genesis II (Tokyo, May 1, 1992); Piano Concertino (Nagoya, Sept. 24, 1994); The Narrow Road into the Deep North: Bashô (Koriyama, April 8,1995); Violin Concerto, In Memory of Toru Takemitsu (Tokyo, Oct. 28, 1996); Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1998). CHAMBER: Projection for 7 Players (Tokyo, July 12, 1955); Interpénétration I for 2 Flutes (Tokyo, July 1, 1963) and II for 2 Percussionists (Tokyo, June 4, 1983); Projection for Cello and Piano (Tokyo, Oct. 11, 1967); Projection—Arrogance of the Dead for Electric Guitar(s) (NHK, Tokyo, June 7, 1968); Triplicity for Double Bass (Honolulu, July 1970); Projection I (Honolulu, July 1970) and II (Tokyo, Nov. 27, 1996) for String Quartet; Inter-posi-play-tion I for Flute, Piano, and 2 Percussion (Tokyo, Nov. 5, 1971) and II for Flute, Harp, and Percussion (Tokyo, Dec. 19, 1973); Territory for Marimba, Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, and Double Bas (1974); Not I, but the Wind... for Amplified Alto Saxophone (1976); My Blue Sky No. 3 for Violin (Berlin, May 1977); Domain for Flute (Tokyo, Feb. 17, 1978); Clarinet Solitude for Clarinet (Tokyo, Sept. 19, 1980); A Winter Day—Hommage to Bashô for Flute, Clarinet, Percussion, Harp, and Piano (Toronto, Feb. 14,1981); Mai-Bataraki II for Alto Flute or Noh Flute (Los Angeles, March 20,1987); Nine Levels by Ze Ami for Chamber Ensemble and Quadraphonic Computer-generated Tape (1987-88; Paris, April 11,1988); Terms of Temporal Detailing for Bass Flute (San Diego, June 1989); Viola Locus for Viola (Yono, Nov. 25,1995); JO HA KYU for 5 Players (1995-96; 1st complete perf., Yono, April 13,1996); Solitude in Memoriam T. T for Violin, Cello, and Piano (N.Y., Feb. 8, 1997); Reigaku for Alto Flute (Berlin, Sept. 17, 1997); Cosmos Haptic IV for Cello and Piano (Tokyo, Oct. 31, 1997). KEYBOARD: Piano:2 Pastorals (Tokyo, Aug. 9, 1952); Three Score Set (Tokyo, Sept. 1953); Serenade: Chant pour “Do” (1954); Cosmos Haptic I (Tokyo, June 22,1957) and II—Transfiguration (Yokohama, Feb. 21,1986); Projection Topologie (Karuisawa, Aug. 19, 1959); Projection Esem-plastic (1961; Tokyo, Feb. 23,1962); On the Keyboard (Tokyo, Feb. 15,1972); Melodies (Tokyo, July 11,1997). VOCAL: Kansoku for Voices (1964); Questions for Chorus (Tokyo, March 9, 1971); Utterance for Chorus (Tokyo, Dec. 5,1971); “Calling Together” for Chorus (1973; Tokyo, Feb. 6, 1974); Projection on Bashô’s Haiku for Chorus and Vibraphone (Tokyo, Nov. 11, 1974); Projection Onomatopoetic for Chorus (Tokyo, April 19,1979); Asakano Eishô for Women’s Chorus (Koriyama, Aug. 7, 1982); Observations on Weather Forecasts for Baritone and Trumpet (Tokyo, June 1, 1983); Composition on Ze-Ami’s Nine Grades for Men’s Chorus (1983-84; Tokyo, Oct. 1984); Shin Kiyari Kanda Sanka for Men’s Chorus and 5 or More Shakuhachi (Tokyo, Oct. 1, 1984); Uta Asobi (Play Songs) on Onomatopoeia for Children’s Chorus (Tokyo, Nov. 30, 1985); Mutterings for Soprano or Mezzo-soprano and 7 Players (Lerchenborg, July 31,1988); Phonomato-poeia for Chorus (Tokyo, Oct. 25, 1991); Responsorium for the Requiem for Reconciliation for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Stuttgart, Aug. 16,1995); Cosmic Solitude for Baritone, Chorus, and Orch. (Stuttgart, Sept. 11, 1997). ELECTRONIC: AoinoUe (1961; N.Y., Dec. 1968); Icon on the Source of White Noise (NHK, Tokyo, March 1967); Voices Coming (NHK, Tokyo, Sept. 1969); Music for Space Projection (Osaka, Sept. 1970); My Blue Sky No. 1 (NHK, Tokyo, Oct. 1975) and No. 2—In Southern California (1976); Towards “The Midnight Sun” (N.Y., June 3,1984); A Study in White (San Francisco, May 1987); Eye on Genesis for UPIC (Fukushima, Aug. 21, 1991). OTHER: Koto Uta Bashô’s Five Haiku for Koto and 17-gen Koto (Tokyo, Nov. 6, 1978); Mai-Bataraki from Ritual for Delphi for Shakuhachi and Percussion (Delphi, Oct. 16, 1979); Ishibutai Ko for Ryuteki, 3 Shakuhachis, 17-gen Koto, and 2 Percussion (NHK, Tokyo, Nov. 1981); To the Genesis for Sho (Tokyo, March 18, 1988); Fûshi Gyô-Un for Alto, Tenor, and Traditional Japanese Instruments (Tokyo, June 29, 1988); Cosmos Haptic—Kokuh for 20-gen Koto and Shakuhachi (Tokyo, Dec. 10, 1990).
—Nicholas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire