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Work

Voice of the Rain : for shakuhachi and string quartet

by Ross Edwards (2016)

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Incantations

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CD

Incantations / chamber music by Ross Edwards.

Library shelf no. CD 3016 [Not for loan]

Display all products featuring this work (4 more)  

Work Overview

My fascination with the shakuhachi began as a postgraduate student in England, when I came across Gorō Yamaguchi's now classic LP A Bell Ringing in the Empty Sky, a collection of traditional shakuhachi solos. I made a habit of listening to it before going to sleep at night. Years later, in Australia, I met Grand Master Riley Lee, under whose guidance I began composing for the instrument. My first shakuhachi piece, Raft Song at Sunrise, was commissioned by Ross Mellick to accompany an exhibition of his bamboo constructions at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and it has remained in Riley's repertoire. Other pieces followed, including Dawn Mantras, in which the shakuhachi figures prominently, and The Heart of Night, composed for Riley as soloist with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
The shakuhachi is especially remarkable for its capacity to evoke natural sounds like wind, water and birdsong. It can even sound like the human voice. In Voice of the Rain I've tried to integrate these qualities into an imagined dialogue between the human and natural worlds.

Work Details

Year: 2016

Instrumentation: Shakuhachi, 2 violins, viola, cello.

Duration: 6 min.

Written for: Riley Lee, Enigma Quartet

Commission note: Commissioned with funds provided by Australia Council.

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