solo shakuhachi (2024)
Performed by the composer.
duration: 3′
program note:
Alone was commissioned by the European Shakuhachi Society as one of its “Ignition Commissions”, new works for beginning players. It was published in the Autumn/Winter 2024 issue of their quarterly online publication ‘BAMBOO’.
Brown writes:
“So much of my shakuhachi life is alone: daily practice, long breaths, honkyoku … but somehow the sound of shakuhachi makes me feel part of everything around me. The sound lives inside me even when I’m not playing. Also, I think the word ‘alone’ is a beautiful-sounding word! Many phrases in this piece, such as the first and last phrases, are the same sonic shape as saying the word very slowly: aah…loooone.
Everything stays in the low register. The long note in each phrase is the most important note.
Please remember shakuhachi’s simple origins, and please play with as much beauty and resonance as possible!”