• Song for baritone voice and percussion opus 88 nr 5

   

  Percussion instruments: glockenspiel, suspended small triangle, suspended small cymbal and two small bongos.

• Duration: 3' 20"
• Composed in 2012
• First performance: 15.07.12 Baritone Masahiro Mita and percussionist Bai Jiaxing Esplanade Recital Studio, Singapore.
• ISMN 979-0-9016515-2-4
• Parts: please email <rc@robertcasteels.com>

After leading an expeditionary force in Kyūshū, Ōtomo no Tabito (665 – 731) was appointed Governor-General of Dazaifu in 728. Most of his poems come from his last years when he was Councillor of State in the capital. Ōtomo Tabito also wrote in Chinese and was deeply influenced by Taoist thought. The poem In Praise of Sake consists of 13 tankas. ‘Tanka’, meaning literally short poem, is a genre in classical Japanese poetry. The musical structure follows the 5-7-5-7-7 structure of a tanka. A single percussionists plays the glockenspiel, suspended small triangle, suspended small cymbal and two small bongos. Baritone Masahiro Mita and percussionist Bai Jiaxing premiered in Praise of Sake on 15-VII-2012 in the Esplanade Recital Studio, Singapore. For the cover of the score, katana artist Nalu Miyamoto created an original art work in paper cutting entitled Sake wo homuru uta: poet Ōtomo no Tabito drinks sake. By the combined magic of sake, moonlight and sakura blossom, the poet’s beloved late wife appears in the form of a heavenly nymph.