Instrumentation: shō

Duration: 6 minutes

Year composed: 2019

First performance: Chatori Shimizu, Cornell University, Ithaca (NY), USA, March 16th 2019

Other performances: Chatori Shimizu, Cornell University, Ithaca (NY), USA, May 5th 2019

Chatori Shimizu, Cité de la musique et de la danse, Strasbourg, France, June 3rd 2019

Chatori Shimizu, Theater Regensburg, Neuhaussaal, Germany, June 16th 2019

Chatori Shimizu, Moulin à Nef, Auvillar, France, June 26th 2019

Chatori Shimizu, ICTM World Conference 2019, Bangkok, Thailand, July 15th 2019

Chatori Shimizu, Dresden Konzertsaal, Dresden, Germany, December 19th 2019

Chatori Shimizu, Galerie Theis, Berlin, Germany, January 11th 2020

Program note: … sans couleurs à souffler is inspired by a haiku written by the poet Chigetsu Kawaï. The French translation caught my attention in the way that it can be interpreted in two different ways. The verse “sans couleurs à souffler” literally translated into English means “without color to blow”. The homophone of “sans” in French is “cent,” thus switching out the word in the phrase changes its meaning to “a hundred colors to blow”. The piece is based on this linguistic dichotomy. The harmonic material is minimal and its development is slow. The accent is put on the timbral aspect. The same material is treated with different techniques resulting in a variety of colors.