Ishii-Hiten-Seido III-M

The same thoughts which animated the composition of HITEN_SEIDO II also form the basis for the content of this work. However, whereas HITEN_SEIDO II draws its inspiration from the elegant and vivid images of Heaven depicted on the frescoes in the cave of Tun Huang, which stem from the Tang Dynasty, it is the floating images images of Heaven depicted on frescoes dated from a much earlier period which provide the motives generating HITEN-SEIDO III. During the earlier period, these depictions were not yet amplifies through the use of contours. These heavenly images thus retain a primordial strength, vitality and radiance, which this music tries to recreate.

Number of Players: 1
Difficulty: Grade 5
Instrumentation:

Player I: Marimba 5 oct.

Makii Ishii was born on May 28th, 1936 in Tokyo as the third son of Baku Ishii, the celebrated dancer and choreographer who played a pioneering role in establishing the genre of modern dance in Japan. After studying composition and conducting from 1952 to 1958 in Tokyo he moved to Berlin where he continued his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Berlin (West), as student of e.g. Josef Rufer and Boris Blacher. In 1962 he returned to Japan. In 1969 he was invited to Berlin by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to take part in their "Berliner Künstlerprogramm". Since then he has been active there as well as in Japan as a composer and conductor. His compositions have been performed all over the world. Concerts as "Composer's Portrait of Maki Ishii" have been held in Paris at the Festival d'Automne 1978, at the Berliner Festwochen 1981, in Geneva at the Été Japonais 1983, in Tokyo at the Music Today 1987, at the Suntory Music Foundation Orchestral Concert 1989, at the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra 1990, in the Hague at the Residentie Orchestra 1992, to name but a few.