Nirvāna-symphonie

Toshiro Mayuzumi - Nirvāna-symphonie

Performers:

Mixed Chorus of Tokyo Choraliers
Nippon University Chorus Group
NHK Symphony Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Schüchter
Cover art by Yoko Ono
The premier performance of the Nirvāna-Symphonie took place in Tokyo on 2 April 1958. The work was started in 1957 and completed in the spring of 1958.
Two motives may be mentioned for my conceiving the idea of this symphony. The one was musical or acoustical, while the other was religious or philosophical.
Through recent work in concrete music and electronic music, I had developed a deeper interest in new timbres and new sounds. The work mentioned above was based on the idea of creating musical structures out of the sound energy, along the line advocated by Edgard Varèse. In other words, the method of composition consisted of giving musical life to the energy inherent in the sound itself. As a result, I have brought various new timbres into my compositions. Speaking from the standpoint of acoustics, for example, mixed tones, which are combinations of several or even several dozen pure tones, have become dominant in my works. In the course of my work in this field, I became deeply interested in and very fond of the sound produced by the Japanese temple bell, which I considered a typical mixture of tones. Two points related to the sound of the temple bell as tone material attracted me. Firstly, the sound was of an extremely complex overtone structure, in which the number of overtone vibrations was not an integral multiple of the number of fundamental frequency. Secondly, the component parts of the overtone changed subtly with the passage of time.
Similarly, I was attracted by the voices of Buddhist priests reciting Sutras. The Sutra recitation, of course, has no melody, but it is definitely accompanied with a habitual intonation and rhythm. In addition, a reciting by many priests in a group produces a sort of musical noise through the mixing of the voices of varying pitches.
I, therefore, conceived the idea of creating a vocal noise similar to the Sutra reciting by means of a male chorus. Similarly, I tried to achieve a bell effect with an orchestra by translating the partial tone structures of the sound into instrumental performances.
As a result, I added to a full orchestra a group composed of treble woodwind instruments and a group of bass brass instruments. These groups - the regular orchestra, woodwinds and brasses - were placed on three different corners of the hall to achieve a directional sense by means of the sounds crisscrossing over the heads of the audience. I also freely resorted to the tone-color-melody in the manner of Schoenberg to produce a unique music consisting of continuous tone clusters without any melody to speak of. The male chorus divided in 12 parts, sings Sutra "Sūramgamah" (composed by me), which is one of the Sutras included in the Zen Sect Scripture. In the Finale, the Shômyô (or a sort of Gregorian Chant practised by Buddhist priests) of the Tendai Sect was used as the text. Such is the case history of this symphony.
Now, it was not only from the musical interest but also from the religious interest, as indicated in the title, that I conceived the idea of composing this symphony. The close relation between the toll of the temple bell and Buddhism dates back to ancient times. In Japan, the sound of the temple bell has always been interpreted as signifying the "transiency of all things." In other words, Nirvāna, an ideal state of being for the Buddhist, has been symbolized by the toll of the bell. Consequently, my interest in and fondness for the toll of the bell were influenced to a certain extent by such religious sentiments. The same can be said of my interest in the Sutras. It was my idea to create my own music through clarification of the secret of a strong attachment I had for temple bells and Sutras. This I tried with my Oriental musical instinct separate from my musical training based on Western tradition. In other words, I composed this symphony with the idea of creating my own musical Nirvāna. The symphony, therefore, is not a religious music in the purest sense of that term. It may just as well be considered a sort of Buddhistic cantata. (Toshiro Mayuzumi)




Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Campanology I: Sūramgamah {7:55}

2. Campanology II: Mahāprajñāpāramitā {12:15}

Side B

1. Campanology III: Finale {12:07}

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