Accordian Composition by American Premieres in Japan

Imagine highly complex, atonal contemporary music played thrillingly on—of all instruments—the accordion.
Accordian Composition by American Premieres in Japan
Michael Edgerton. (Krista Figacz)
Kremena Krumova
5/28/2009
Updated:
6/1/2009
<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/edgerton_2006_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/edgerton_2006_medium.jpg" alt="Michael Edgerton. (Krista Figacz)" title="Michael Edgerton. (Krista Figacz)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-86614"/></a>
Michael Edgerton. (Krista Figacz)

Imagine highly complex, atonal contemporary music played thrillingly on—of all instruments—the accordion.

The musical piece “The Book of One Man Dead” by American composer Michael Edward Edgerton will be performed in Tokyo as part of the 9th International Festival ‘Creative’ on May 31. World-famous accordionist Timo Kinnunen was chosen to play it for the first time.

The festival, held at the new Kanagawa Art Hall May 29-31, emphasizes contemporary and improvised music performances. Many musicians are invited to play at the event every year. This time, the Finnish accordion master was among the lucky ones chosen.

Timo Kinnunen, who won the World Championship for Accordion at the age of 16, was impressed by Edgerton’s “Tempo Mental Rap,” awarded at the prestigious Kompositionspreis Der Landeshauptstadt in Stuttgart, Germany. Kinnunen asked him to compose a similar work.

“I was asked to write the composition in March and have it ready in eight weeks,” notes Michael Edgerton in a special online interview with The Epoch Times.

<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/timo3_medium.jpg"><img src="https://www.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2015/07/timo3_medium.jpg" alt="Timo Kinnunen performs with violinist Virpi R���¤is���¤nen, member of the Dutch Chamber Orchestra. (Timo Kinnunen)" title="Timo Kinnunen performs with violinist Virpi R���¤is���¤nen, member of the Dutch Chamber Orchestra. (Timo Kinnunen)" width="320" class="size-medium wp-image-86615"/></a>
Timo Kinnunen performs with violinist Virpi R���¤is���¤nen, member of the Dutch Chamber Orchestra. (Timo Kinnunen)
Kinnunen finds the work avant-garde, more contemporary than classical—a major piece full of “dramatic and beautiful moments, just like life.”

“The work includes some improvisational parts, which gives a performer like me a living motivation to win the difficulties. I like to improvise, and I play also in the European Contemporary Improvisation Orchestra.”

The composition was inspired by Norman Mailer’s novel “Ancient Evenings” (1983), but while the book is defined as complicated and demanding, Edgerton hopes that his musical work will grab rather than demand attention. Through it, he challenges the repetitive and easily predictable ways in which society reacts to reality.

“This piece features wide contrasts of texture and activity, and employs a language very similar to what contemporary composer Brice Pauset poetically summarized: ‘an impossible music that would listen to our own culture and convey… its unmentionable manifestations… a music that breaks with the comfort of established codes, especially those of a moribund culture unalterably attached to desiring that which it already knows.’”

Michael Edgerton: Pushing Beyond Cultural Limitations

In the process of music creation, Michael Edgerton is not limited by boundaries and cultures; he does not compose in response to other music and does not impose any notions upon the listener. He tends to take a longer view of contemporary culture and humankind’s place in history.

“I want to give the general impression of examination and exploration,” he says.

Edgerton finds all musical instruments wonderful in their own way.

“I have developed a series of intense major pieces for solo instruments and try to get to the heart of each instrument’s nature—often by examining its dynamical system, in terms of its biomechanical properties.”

As a creative artist, Edgerton feels that sounds accompany every event in the world. The difference is only in the way we apprehend music, based on our experience, education, and sensitivity. As for how Edgerton responds to music, “I do not like to let the music just wash over me; I am interested to really listen, so then I stop and listen; otherwise, I carry on.”

Edgerton, scholar and artist, is an author with international recognition. He has taught music composition at Yonsei University and was a Visiting Scholar at Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea. He has a Postdoctoral Fellow with the National Center for Voice and Speech and has conducted physiological and acoustical research on extended vocal techniques in preparation for a book on contemporary voices.

Timo Kinnunen Inspires Creativity

Timo Kinnunen´s artistic reputation as a accordion virtuoso has inspired composers worldwide to create fabulous works for this instrument. In addition to participating in at least 50 concerts annually, Kinnunen is involved in many innovative cultural and pedagogical projects.

The accordionist has premiered numerous solo and chamber music works dedicated to him and has collaborated with composers like Vinko Globokar, John Cage, Astor Piazzolla, Alvin Curran, and Jukka Tiensuu.

“I play medieval, baroque, and contemporary music. My favorite composers are Guillaume de Machaut, Johann Jakob Froberger, J. S. Bach, Igor Stravinsky, and Olivier Messiaen.”

After Tokyo, Kinnunen continues his performances in Germany and Russia.

For more about Michael Edgerton: http://edgertonmichael.tripod.com/

Kremena Krumova is a Sweden-based Foreign Correspondent of Epoch Times. She writes about African, Asian and European politics, as well as humanitarian, anti-terrorism and human rights issues.
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