Variations 変奏曲
日本語の翻訳は、英文の下にあります。
Last year was a relatively quiet year on the composition front. After completing Sinfonia Concertante in 2023, I switched my writing energies to a book project: Music as Heritage and Tourism Resource in Japan (scheduled for publication in 2026). Writing this book has required deep reflection on the nature of “the music industry” and the commercial potential of classical music (perhaps “lack of potential” is more accurate!). I am always conscious of the tensions between the artistic ideal of music as self-expression and the financial reality that music must enable professional musicians to earn a living. However, while my researcher brain was immersed in investigating the business side of music, particularly as it relates to tourism, my composer brain was focused on a highly personal piece.
Variations on The Lord’s Prayer (sheet music available here) is a short theme and variations for piano quintet. Many years ago my father (an occasional church organist) found this choral setting of the Lord’s Prayer. He had always liked it, so I composed this short set of variations as a birthday present. It was first performed at the Christmas Concert on 14 December 2024 while my parents were visiting Japan.
Variations is slightly unconventional in that the theme appears after four variations, rather than at the beginning. The first variation (marked “heavenly” – after all, the Lord’s Prayer begins “Our Father who art in heaven”) compresses one bar of the melody into a single chord, creating an ethereal atmosphere. The quartet then joins in a prayer-like plainchant that uses the rhythm of the theme, albeit at double speed. The second variation (marked “giocoso”) preserves the notes of the theme, but completely changes the tempo and rhythm. Furthermore, this gigue-like tune is juxtaposed with a countermelody created by playing the notes of theme in reverse order.
The third variation changes the metre of the main theme from 4/4 to 5/8, and converts it from major to minor. One of my father’s favourite records when I was a small child was a Dave Brubeck album. Tracks like Take Five introduced me to the possibilities of 5/8, 7/8, and other irregular metres. The jazzy third variation is a little nod to that influence. The fourth variation, meanwhile, borrows a trick from the eighteenth variation of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini: turn the melody upside down and make it as romantic as possible.
A short intermezzo then leads to the main theme. There are intermezzos between each of the variations. They are all a short segment of the main theme, so collectively they make up one more variation. When the main theme eventually appears about two thirds of the way through the piece, the original SATB choral setting of The Lord’s Prayer is played verbatim by the string quartet. The piano joins in the final variation, which is an embellished version of the theme evoking the closing of the Lord’s Prayer: “for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory”. The piece ends with a conventional coda/Amen.
After the concert, my father told me he spontaneously associated it with Joya no Kane – another of his favourite pieces, which was also performed at the concert. Both pieces start with chiming in the piano and contain string writing in the style of plainchant. Both are musical representations of prayers, albeit from different religious traditions: a Buddhist prayer for protection against and forgiveness for earthly passions/sins, and a Christian one for the strength and courage to promote peace and goodwill for all in the future.
The concert on 14 December rounded off a good musical year for me. This year, 2025, looks like being a variation on the themes of last year. My mind will be in music industry mode as I complete my book, and work towards the first performance of Sinfonia Concertante on 17 May. But my composing energies will be poured into small-scale, personal projects. I have been asked by a friend to write a trio for flute, violin, and piano. And like last year, I want to write something that allows me to be a composer-performer again … although this time on the piano. The variations in these projects for 2025 reflect my ongoing quest to bridge the two sides of my composing life: on the one hand, writing music for myself and those closest to me, and, on the other hand, writing music that can be a valuable part of people’s professional and amateur performing lives, even when they only know me through the notes/words I put down on paper.
11 January 2025
日本語は準備中。