Instrumentation: chamber orchestra (1.1.1.1/2.1.1.0/Strings)

Duration: 8 minutes

Year composed: 2023

First performance: Orchestra of the Sofia Gubaidulina Center for Contemporary Music , Roman Parkhomenko (cond.), Sounded House of Sofia Festival, Kazan, Russia, December 1st, 2023

Program note: Les yeux des poissons en larmes is loosely inspired by an haiku by Matsu Bashō which expresses the poet’s sorrow at parting. This piece takes on the idea of parting and sorrow while exploring different layers of silence. The musical material develops through absences of sound, of registers, and of timbres. In addition to these absences, the material is sometimes distorted, similar to the reminiscence of a distant memory.

行春や

鳥啼魚の

目は泪

Spring departing—

the birds cry out

and the eyes of the fish

are full of tears