The Memory of Pliocene Coast

This was composed in 2007 and commissioned by Matsudo Yagiri High School in Chiba-Ken.

I started with the intention of making a ‘melody that gives hope’, expanding my inspiration with words of ‘Yagiri’ and suggestions from the ‘Yagiri No Watashi’, a decayed signpost (buoy) that is on water which at times disappears from sight and from there I arrived at the poem “Kairosei” by Miyazawa Kenji.

Miyazawa Kenji always tried to avoid creating poetry contents about the death of his younger sister and this series of poems “Night on the Galactic Railroad” is the first time he expressed it.

Yagiri High School which was integrated in Heisei 23 is a school that is going to be closed down and “Kairosei” express the darkness of the closing and the hope for the future. ‘Pliocene Coast’ is mentioned in this poem. This music is mostly consists of 6/8 tempo and please think of it as a sailors' song associated to poems such as “Yagiri No Watashi” and “Liocene Coast”. Through music, this composition tries to create an image of rowing a boat to a faraway place and the p (piano) phrases creates the small ripples that shake the boat and f (forte) phrases creates the big ripples that shake the boat. There is a big storm (musical bar from Tempestoso) and the boat ride across it (music bar from Amoroso) and sails into the bright future (musical bar from Brillante).