PER SHAKUHACHI + CONTRABASSO
dedicated to Fumio Shirato and Katsuya Yokoyama
(for Shakuhachi and double bass)

Zurich 1990/91
performing time approx. 12'

URAKAMI
Sunken are
hills,
river
and
cathedral

Ermano Maggini was concerned with organics, with the biology of sound properties, which is shown by this late choice of the Japanese bamboo flute shakuhachi; even the double bass is subjected to this aspect and already seems unusual as a quasi-solo instrument. The surprising choice places the composition URAKAMI in connection with Torso V and Torso VI for Clavier Cristal as well as the composition for the bells of Intragna. This is perhaps because the sound produced maintains and clarifies a primordial order of its own, a freedom due to the fact that these instruments have been bypassed by western classical music, not appropriated, and are therefore not subject to the expectations of concert audiences, even though the bamboo flute (and the bells as well) are deeply rooted in the tradition they represent. Shakuhachi is the instrument of breath, of the pilgrim and the samurai and also of resistance. Ermano Maggini wrote this composition URAKAMI for Shakuhachi and double bass in the winter of 1990/1991, and he subordinated it to a message called Hiroshima, in memory of the victims of Nagasaki-Urakami, the place of annihilation by the atomic bomb. On the inside page of the score it says in large letters: URAKAMI – 'Sunken are / hill, / river / and / cathedral'. The composition is a warning and a message and a commemoration all in one, and as topical today as it was then.

The initial of a farewell

The performance of URAKAMI on 29th August 1991 in the Stadthaus Zurich (Musikpodium) became the last premiere the composer witnessed and set a seal on his life's work. A quotation from the biography recalls that concert (cf. Evi Kliemand: Ermano Maggini (1931-1961) – ein Schweizer Komponist, Ed. Müller & Schade 2014, Bern): „The highly meditative work was premiered in the summer of 1991 in the Zurich Stadthaus (Musikpodium) on 29th August, the eve of the composer's 60th birthday and at the same time the day of the ill-omened finding. The few minutes of this moving musical performance, also marked by the breath of the mighty bamboo flute, instrument of the Japanese pilgrims, these few minutes of the first perfomance were strangely disturbed by someone walking loudly through the room, completely disregarding the music. This memory is inextricably linked to that memorable evening.“

The excellent double bass player Fumio Shirato was also the designated performer in the Trio for violin, guitar and double bass, Torso IV (1987), which is also dedicated to him. These two works were performed in Switzerland and abroad. Torso IV was often performed by the members of the Orches'Trio together with the Shakuhachi-masters in prestigious concert halls, both during Ermano Maggini's lifetime and posthumously, in Zurich as well as in Ticino, and in Japan, for example in Nagasaki in the Urakami district, at the sites of the tragic events. The double bass player Fumio Shirato and the violinist Noriko Shirato as well as the guitarist Walther Giger (all from Zurich) were friends of the composer for many years, even after his death.
The posthumous recording on CD was made in 1997 by the renowned Shakuhachi-master Tadashi Tajima and the double bass player Fumio Shirato; this work is dedicated to the latter and to the Shakuhachi-player Katsuya Yokohama, who masterfully premiered the composition. (cf. recording on CD Ed. Jecklin JS 317-2 2000)

On the instruction page of the autograph the composer gave the following advice to the performers: 'Tempi e dinamica: Sono da interpretare assai liberamente, adattandoli all'intensità del suono e all'acustica dello spazio.' (Tempi and dynamics are to be played quite freely, according to the tonal intensity and the acoustics of the place).
(And further indications with appropriate signs) = Glissando (molto veloce), alto basso = Un quarto (anche meno) di nota, solo per le note marcate. Accento corto. - ppp …. fffffff ….. ppppp (Sultasto) poco a poco (sul ponticello) ritornando (sul tasto) (Senza vibrazione) / poco a poco (più vibr. Possibile, poco a poco (senza vibr.) sino al niente'
And further it says among other things: 'a quarter note and also less…' and then this 'sine al niente' – this disappearance into silence, this dissolution.

For a inexperienced composer, such non-European instruments harbour the danger of appearing handcrafted, mechanical, gimmicky – and thus of slipping into 'arts and crafts'. In dealing with all instruments, Ermano Maggini escaped this danger because he knew how to avoid virtuoso sound disguises and mechanical effects and maintained that condensed austerity that arises from the unadulterated sound. This especially also applies to this work.
In 1991 Ermano Maggini was working on the great Magnificat. When he completed URAKAMI, he still had two works ahead of him, Torso X for A and B clarinet solo, his last Torso, - and the unfinished work JOB for speaker, choir and orchestra. The thought JOB arises in view of these tempi and fields of expression indicated in URAKAMI, be it: Lento espressivo – devoto, agitato, appassionato, minaccioso, deciso, martellato, misterioso, violento, dolente, religioso, out of time or astral.
The transitions of one work to the next are deep and the bridges mostly invisible. And so this composition also becomes the initial of a farewell and a journey. With the instrumental works, which were written parallel to the Torsos and Canti, ends the third part of the history of the works I have commented on. The vocal works follow as the fourth part.
Finally, however, a passage on URAKAMI from the booklet for the posthumous recording of the year 2000 (cf. CD Ed. Jecklin JS 317-2): It is only consistent that Ermano Maggini, who has always let himself be inspired to works by the special timbre of the flutes, took up the most extreme challenge of the Shakuhachi for western ears. (…)
(…) The work was premiered in the presence of the composer on 29th August 1991 in Zurich (Musikpodium) by the double bass player Fumio Shirato and the shakuhachi-master Katsuya Yokoyama.
During the last few year, Fumio Shirato has taken up the work again and, together with the shakuhachi-master Tadashi Tajima, has repeatedly deepened it musically. Tadashi Tajima is considered one of the renowned Japanese masters for shakuhachi. Subsequently, URUKAMI was performed several times in Japan, among other places in Kyoto in 1999 and at the site of the great disaster under the star of Hiroshima, on the hill, in the cathedral of the stricken city of Nagasaki in the district of Urakami. URAKAMI seen in this spectrum gives the recordings of the works of Ermano Maggini a surprising colouring that demands a different way of listening. URAKAMI is one of Ermano Maggini's last works and at the same time an unexpected and yet compellent key to understanding the sound matter in his oeuvre.


Text: Evi Kliemand (2018)
Hrsg. Fondazione Ermano Maggini Intragna


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