The Concerto for 20-String Koto and Strings contains two obvious structural characteristics, common in much of Nishimura's music, that serve as its syntax. One is a perfect 5th, perfect 4th, or perfect octave drone played normally or as harmonics by the strings; the other, a series of rising heterophonic textures that are colored by glissandi. The soloist and orchestra approach and leave this drone by "bending pitches" - using both glissandi and microtonal pitches. The rising heterophonic textures are executed in various contexts, first by the orchestra, and then the soloist.
In addition to the two ideas above, Nishimura draws heavily in the Concerto on other musical concepts and aesthetics of Japanese traditional music and arts, as well as Indian and other Asian musics. Subtle changes of tone color, pitch, and texture replace melody and harmony as dominant carriers of expressive content. Similarities and subtle differences in color between the Japanese koto and 'Western' strings are explored - use of extended techniques make this possible. Different styles of pizzicati and extra-musical percussive sounds that are included, as well as harmonics, trills and tremolos, different speeds of vibrato, and pitch bends are merely a few of these techniques. The unconventional division of string parts (5 violins, 2 violas, 2 celli, 1 bass) and their position on stage also emphasizes the importance of physical space - where the sound "comes from" is crucial.
A videotape of a 4/23/91 performance by the Hamilton College Orchesta will be shown.
As a recitalist of new music, E. Michael Richards has premiered over 100 works that have utilized the clarinet at performances throughout the U.S., Japan, Australia, and Western Europe, including concerts at the Tokyo American Center, the Cal Arts Festival of Contemporary Music (Valencia, Cal.), the 1990 Kobe International Festival of Contemporary Music (Japan), the 1989 International Electronic Music Plus Festival (Oberlin, Ohio), the 1989 NEWCOMP International Festival (Cambridge, Mass.), and the 1982 International Stravinsky Symposium (San Diego, Cal.). He recently performed the Clarinet Concerto of John Corigliano with the Syracuse Symphony under Kazuyoshi Akiyama.
Trained as a clarinetist at the New England Conservatory (B.Mus.) and Yale School of Music (M.Mus.), Mr. Richards earned a Ph.D. in music theory at the University of California, San Diego. He has lectured on new clarinet techniques at the 1987 ASUC national conference at Northwestern University, and presented lecture/recitals with Kazuko Tanosaki at the 1987 CMS/AMS national conference in New Orleans and 1988 symposium of the International Musicological Society in Melbourne, Australia on new Japanese music.
Richards received a 1990 U.S./Japan Creative Artist Fellowship (sponsored by the NEA, U.S./Japan Friendship Commission, and Japanese Bunka-cho) for a six-month residency in Japan, a NEH Summer Fellowship to study traditional Japanese music, and a residency grant (Cassis, France) from the Camargo Foundation to complete a book - "The Clarinet of the Twenty-First Century."