Classical music concerto by Violinist Sayaka Shoji
Title:
庄司紗矢香 – 音楽とことば 未来への回帰 音楽とことばのダイアローグで紡ぐ「新しい」協奏曲のカタチ
Sayaka Shoji – Music and Words Return to the Future
In Kanagawa Prefectual Music Hall
20th September 2023
Program:
- Toru Takemitsu: Distance de Fée / 武満徹：妖精の距離
- Debussy: Violin Sonata in G minor / ドビュッシー：ヴァイオリン・ソナタ
- Verdi: String Quartet in E minor / ヴェルディ：弦楽四重奏曲 ホ短調
- Chausson: Concert for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet Op.21 (with a dialogic play in Japanese) /
ショーソン：ヴァイオリン、ピアノと弦楽四重奏のための協奏曲 ニ長調 作品21（演劇「庄司紗矢香 音楽と言葉の旅『ふるさと』」とともに演奏）
Violin: Sayaka Shoji / 庄司紗矢香
Piano: Benjamin Grosvenor / モディリアーニ弦楽四重奏団
String Quartet: Modigliani Quartet / ベンジャミン・グローヴナー
Play’s story and Direction: Oriza Hirata / 平田オリザ
Actors: Watanabe Kana, Minako Inoue, and Nao Otake / 渡辺香奈 井上三奈子 大竹直（青年団）
It was a very precious experience.
It has become common for classical music players to collaborate with artists in another genre these days. I’ve watched plays with live chamber music as background music and appreciated classical music concerts with videos projected to the rear wall on the stage before. But Sayaka’s attempt yesterday was totally different from theirs.
Chausson’s piece had a dialogic play between every movement. However, the play didn’t have any musical accompaniment and didn’t directly relate to Chausson’s music. In other words, the two different art performances were played alternately.
First, Sayaka and her musicians (actually they are very famous among classical music lovers around the world) played the 1st movement, after the end of the movement, three actors appeared on the stage to perform the play. Honestly, I was a little confused at that time because the play was set in a Japanese country town and I thought it didn’t have any connection to the Chausson’s music. But while both performances continued, I gradually sensed that both art was having chemistry and blending into one art.
The stage had a very simple decoration. Other than the setting for music players, it had only one bench with one outside light for the play. It reminded me of the Japanese traditional comic play “Kyogen”. Kyogen is played on a Japanese traditional stage “No-Butai” which doesn’t contain large set pieces or many props and just has one old pine tree painted on the rear wall, so every scene of Kyogen plays totally depends on the imagination of each audience. I think the interpretation of yesterday’s performance was left up to every audience’s imagination as well. I really like this “afterglow”.
Because the play’s story from leading Japanese playwright Hirata didn’t pursue eccentricity and was reminiscent of an early Heisei era (1990s) in a good way, it was a better fit for Chausson’s music. I love it! Needless to say, the music of ModiglianiQ, Benjamin, and Sayaka was absolutely fantastic!
The Chausson’s collaboration piece was performed for more than 70 minutes, but I felt the time flew so fast. I had a wonderful and memorable night.
I look forward to Sayaka’s next ambitious performance and collaboration.
