A Second Chamber Symphony, as if it were my First

It's a rule that I established for myself to be obeyed by me and only me: When I do something for the second time, don't repeat what I had done for the first time, even (or especially) if I had done it well. We tend to repeat things to establish a comfort zone, and in fact Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone. At least for me. And that's where the fun is. You call me stupid? Well, perhaps I am. Coz I still feel like a little kid, and I still have dreams of flying. If you want to fly you need to grow up, to grow up you need to be a kid again. To be a kid again you have to just be yourself; so come out of your cozy comfort zone, break the boundaries your are stuck in.. Only then you can fly. ............................................................................................................................................. I did it with each of my 5, going on 6, operas. I did it with my Rapsodia Nusantara that has reached 18 now (yeah yeah, some of them end with a fugue, and every 4 of them is a Theme and Variations, but I did them in different ways). And now I am doing it with my Chamber Symphony no.2, especially because the commissioner of this work is the same as for my First, which is Indonesia's 3rd President, Mr. B.J. Habibie through his Habibie - Ainun Foundation. I just don't want to give him a copy - paste of my First Chamber Symphony! ............................................................................................................................................. But let me contradict myself first. There are some similarities with my First. The most important is the instrumentation. Both are scored for a string quartet plus piano, percussion & harp, and 3 woodwinds : flute, oboe (doubl. english horn) and clarinet. But that's where the challenge lies: to explore other possibilities with the same instruments. While my First is more of a kinda Piano Concertante, this Second is more a Concerto for 10 instruments. There are important solos for many of the instruments. It is also more virtuosic (read: flashy). This time I am focusing more on the dreams of Mr. President : that Indonesia should acquire the glory we deserve, although in many things we are so much behind other countries. I immediately think of that famous phrase : Per Aspera Ad Astra (From the dust to the stars). When I designed the work's structure, I had it in mind, but then I apply this concept only for the First Movement. And for this, I use that simple motif, the most basic thing when we learn a musical instrument : the scale do-re-mi-fa-sol . And then the triad. Why am I doing this? It's because I am using the theme "Anging Mamiri" (a folk song from South of Sulawesi, the birthplace of Mr. Habibie) as one of its material, and the main melody Anging Mamiri starts with that perfect triad. Therefore I try to symbolize how a beginner starts playing the do-re-mi-fa-sol and do-mi-sol themes as the first step to later play exhilarating, sizzling variations on it. ............................................................................................................................................. Another similarity with my First, is that the central movement of the Second is a Love Song. But in the Second, I am putting a childlike character and even a playful section in it, and I do think that I focus more on the happy aspects of Love this time (which I almost never did in my hundreds of previous works!). This movement is full of duets between instruments; the whole group plays together only in the climax. My idea is that this section is full of couples in love. I want the listener to keep track and focus on which duet of instruments are playing every time. It is also an interesting sound world, combining two different instruments every time. And those duets play different roles : sometimes one instrument is accompanying the other, but other times they are both playing melodies. The beginning starts with the violin exposing its theme, answered by the cello, but other times two instruments are involved in a dialogue. I gave the title simply "A Love Song", but in fact it explores many different aspects of love. ............................................................................................................................................. This work will be, as in my First, in 3 clearly defined sections, or movements. It wouldn't be a work which many people would grasp in the first hearing, I think, in spite of its attractiveness in its flashy virtuosity. It has quite a complex structure, like the First also had, but in a different way. But hey, what would happen if you give yourself permission to do something you’ve never done before? There’s only one way to find out! ............................................................................................................................................. My Chamber Symphony no. 2 will be premiered on the birthdate of Mr. Habibie's late wife Ainun, on the 11th of August this year in his residence. The public performance of it will be on the next day, Wednesday the 12th of August at Goethe Haus, Jakarta. Jot it down in your agenda!

Continuing with Trisutji Kamal's music

My newest CD, "Islamic Inspirations" is a continuation of my first 2 CDs of piano music by Trisutji Kamal, one of the pioneers in Indonesian classical music. Those 2 CDs were released almost 10 years ago! I hope we can release the complete CDs of all her piano music before she turns 80 next year, in 5 CDs in total. This is certainly the most ambitious project in Indonesian literature music up to date : recording ALL the piano solo works by Indonesia's most prolific, most important and groundbreaking composer who will celebrate her 80th birthday. I use that string of superlatives for many reasons : ............................................................................................................................................. 1. If one should define what is Indonesian literature music, then Trisutji's music definitely fits the definition. Yes, there were and are other composers such as Mochtar Embut (who, if hadn't been cut short by his premature death, would have produced a huge quantity of high quality works as well), Amir Pasaribu or even me, but Trisutji's music spans more than 50 years of creative process in searching its identity, not only for its individual character, but also the "indonesianness" of it. ............................................................................................................................................. 2. Trisutji's works (especially for piano solo) have been established as part of the repertoire of Indonesia's pianists : students, teachers, performers. I don't know any Indonesian pianist of my generation who has not played or learned her works. ............................................................................................................................................. 3. Although living in Europe in the 50s and 60s, Trisutji allowed herself not to be dictated by the "avantgarde" dictatorship which , though powerful until as late as the 80s, proved never to be accepted by anyone oustide its small circle and therefore disappeared together with, or even before the death of its "composers" . Therefore her music remains truthful to her expressions without being afraid of being critized by her colleagues. ............................................................................................................................................. 4. As a composer born and brought up with a rich culture of her country, she could assimilate all that she naturally absorbed and integrate it to her highly original musical language, applying a "Western" compositional technique and musical structures. This is, in a way, paralel to the artistic achievements of Toru Takemitsu as a Japanese, Aaron Copland as an American or Peter Sculthorpe as an Australian, being pioneers of establishing the identity of (classical) music of their own country. ............................................................................................................................................. This collection is a result of many years of hardwork and collaboration between the composer and myself. Many of her work remain unpublished, and even the published ones have many errors in its printing. To make things worse, the composer is an incurable perfectionist who keeps on revising and changing notes, harmonies, phrases .... as the great Paul Valery admitted , "A poem is never finished, only abandoned". Therefore, recording her works forces her to "abandon" her masterpieces and present them in their final form . Every note, every nuance and even every silence of this recording has been discussed and carefully re-thought, although some of them have survived the test of time as they were written as early as in 1951 when the composer was only 15. ............................................................................................................................................. Composers like me and others of the next generation owe a lot from Trisutji ; we are just continuing what she has begun. We just enter the door which she has opened. We just affirm what she has convinced us, that Indonesia does have its own identity in literature and classical music.