[ continued from Vol. 6 ]

Maeda Keizo (left) with Steve Reich

What do you mean when you say that the phrase, "Bach was not only the beginning but also the end of something," can also be applied to the history of music in the 20th century?

It is basically the question how much longer the age of Stockhausen, Berio and Boulez is going to last. I value their achievements of course, but as a matter of fact, their audiences aren't growing, and their music is so difficult that it requires from the musicians extremely high performance skills. If I hadn't said it, I guess there was someone else who made a comment along the lines of, "there has to be more to music than this!" Within the history of western music, such movements (counteractions against the music of Boulez et al.) perhaps had to occur in my age, and they probably had to occur in America. (Bang On A Can member) David Lang once said to me, "You're lucky to live and work in these times!" American academics at the time were eagerly following the trends of European contemporary music. Well, what do you expect from a country of Hamburgers and Chuck Berry… "Knock, Knock, anybody home?" isn't it? There also was a strong influence coming from jazz I think. Be-bop, and then Coltrane! That’s 30 minutes of pure bass line!

American music - jazz and other forms of black music in particular - had a big influence on your music as well, didn't it?

Yes, of course. African music as well, and gamelan music. The Nonesuch label was already releasing several recordings of such music, and I was listening to it a lot. It was all about how long they would keep a tone, and when and how that tone would transform. And they were not doing it by "watching" the conductor’s baton, but by following their own ears. That’s what fascinated me, and what inspired me to write "Music for 18 Musicians".
Determining the orchestration and instrumentation, and the overall sound of a piece is in my view the primary responsibility of every composer. In the late 1980s, I began to feel like writing so-called orchestra pieces, and after laboring around for quite some time, I finally realized that "I don't need 18 first violins and 16 second violins!" I definitely don't need more than three musicians - even one single amplified violin would already do it for me. Especially when trying to create a chamber music sort of atmosphere, this sort of "numeral" expansion can really be an obstacle. When there are 18 violinists playing the same notes, and a total of nearly 100 performers playing at once, that makes it difficult for the musicians to hear each other, and doesn't everything sound rather heavy?
In addition, it’s impossible in the first place that all performers play their respective parts accurately and exactly according to the score. For the romantic music of the 19th century, that sound was quite suitable, but it is definitely not in the case of Bach’s music. That’s why you have to employ such tricks as muting the sound (when playing Bach with a large orchestra). In Mozart’s time it was still all about the string orchestra. Beethoven later introduced the trombone and the clarinet, so he naturally needed to boost the string section. Then came Wagner with all his wind instruments, so that the string section needed even more power to remain audible. I guess things have developed to the full extent here.

I see…

In either case, my music doesn't need big orchestration, and keeping the ensembles small also helps me maintain that special sort of "transparence". The vocals in "18 Musicians" can only be done with such technical devices as mikes and amps, and only the exquisite balance with the various other instruments and percussion I think gives rise to a new form of "vocal music".
Think of the performance of Miles Davis, for example. He used to play with the microphone as if it were a part of his instrument. He muted his trumpet, and at once amplified its sound by holding it close to the mike. It was of course all skillfully controlled, and based on his calculation of how it would sound. If Dizzy Gillespie’s trumpet was the ordinary type, at some point in his career Miles introduced the muted amplified one. In my view this was a truly revolutionary step. He was a genius. I belonged to the first generation of those who grew up surrounded by his music, which is probably why employing technology to amplify sound was just a natural thing, and I suppose the same goes also for all those who appreciate music today. I need acoustic instruments for my music, of course, but at the same time I also need a PA - not for enlarging sound, but for "blending" them that is.
With "18 Musicians" I'm always struggling to get the bass clarinet sound right. We're calling that sound "big frog", and the part is inspired by Eric Dolphy’s play. He’s almost thrusting the end of the clarinet into the dynamic microphones, and while that’s totally the wrong way under normal circumstances, I reckon Dolphy employed that technique also for his recordings. People who heard the record often ask me, "What kind of synthesizer did you use for that?" (laughs)

Did you already have that idea for the clarinet bass line in mind when you started working on "18 Musicians" back in 1974?

No. First there was a marimba and a piano, but no bass line yet. During the rehearsals, one day I tried out something with one of the clarinetists, and thought that it might work. As you may already know, the piece was originally performed by 21 musicians, but while on the road, I began to work out ways of making it simpler for economic reasons (laughs), and eventually the orchestra shrank to 20, 19, and ultimately 18 members!

How about the maracas?

The maracas I've previously used in "Four Organs". We had leather-covered maracas at home, and for some reason I wanted to use them. Maintaining a constant rhythm throughout the piece with these is almost sadistically hard work though… (laughs)

Please tell us about your plans for the near future.

The current album, "Daniel Variations"
(WARNER MUSIC JAPAN)

We're going to finish a rock 'n' roll pieces titled "Two x 5" within this year. It will be first performed in Manchester (see Vol. 6). I hope we can present it also here in Tokyo! I'm also writing pieces for a couple of percussion groups, and a new composition for the Kronos Quartet. Leader David Harrington requested me to come up with a new electric piece, and I guess it will be another one involving speech. It may deal with the 9.11 events, but I'm not sure about this point yet.

Thank you very much for the interview! As a very last question, how would you describe your image of Tokyo?

It is without doubt the biggest city in the world. It’s just huge! Even though the densely-populated area alone has perhaps a diameter of almost 70 kilometers, your streets don't even have names! That’s impossible! I really have no idea how people can lice in a place like this… (laughs) I wanted to visit a place in Ebisu the other day, and got close to it using a map, but then I ended up handing that to a local and asking him to guide me to my destination. After studying the map for a while, he said, "I'm sorry, I don't know the way"! (laughs)