Toshio Hosokawa

Cloudscape

In this work the organ takes the place of the Sho, a Japanese mouth-organ which is part of the Gagaku orchestra. The sounds and chords made by the right and the left hand and by the pedals represent three different Sho instruments, each playing music of a different type and philosophical dimension. These three layers of sounds form a dense and intricate web of sound, at times converging and uniting into rich harmonies similar to the harmonic clusters of the original instrument, then drifting apart into contrasting textures.