September Updates

Well, it's all over. It's been a very busy month. Balance : for the educational tour, I have worked with more than 140 young musicians (mostly pianists, except in Jogja where there were vocalists too) in 4 cities in Indonesia : Jakarta, Makassar, Jogja and Surabaya. I gave masterclasses, mostly with them working on my own piano works in all cities except Makassar, where the Ananda Sukarlan Award (ASA) Junior Piano Competition was held. Unfortunately the ASA could not give the 1st prize of the highest category, but we did have good talents joining it. Since this was the 2nd ASA Junior, so we only have Ayunia Indri Saputro as the only winner of this competition, from 2013. She is leaving to pursue further studies abroad next year, I heard. ............................................................................................................................................ Anyway, the "heavy" ASA, which is the International Piano Competition will be held next year on 27th to 31st of July. Please join our facebook page "Ananda Sukarlan Award International Piano Competition" on facebook, or follow @ASAPianoComp at twitter. We would post regularly again starting now. For the moment, I have stated the obligatory works for the Senior & Junior Category only . ............................................................................................................................................ And concerning composition, I haven't done a big deal for the last month. My opera "Tumirah" was stuck last month anyway, so it was good that I had a break from composing for about a month. Many of my works were premiered: My 2nd Chamber Symphony (two movements are uploaded by I-dunno-who on youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEJScz3B2jU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsSVj6rIqzc ) was premiered at the Goethe Haus after receiving a private premiere at the residence of Indonesia's former President Mr. B.J. Habibie who commissioned it. It was also recorded during the rehearsal and the performance, so we could expect a CD coming out soon, a result of the editing of the live rehearsals and concert. ............................................................................................................................................ Another work premiered was AMISTAD, for the unique pan flute (played by flutist Andika Candra who had to learn how to blow this instrument), string quartet and piano. It was written for the concert celebrating the 40th anniversary of Indonesia and Peru's diplomatic relationship, organized by the Peruvian Embassy in Indonesia who commissioned me the whole program. There are a few songs too premiered there, sung by soprano Evelyn Merrelita and the Peruvian baritone Rudi Fernandez-Cardenas. Writing Amistad was that thing you can't learn in the conservatory. Nor there are any models for it. I think it was the first time that someone dares to intertwine (or weave, or marry, or whatever you call it) Peruvian folk-sounds with West Javanese folk music. I decidedly took the theme "Es Lilin" from West Java, although I gave it a more Aeolian treatment to match it with the Peruvian folkmusic. Someone also uploaded it on youtube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7uzo9a70RM ............................................................................................................................................ Several vocal works of mine were also premiered by young vocalists, soprano Mariska Setiawan and tenor Nikodemus Lukas who have been singing so many of my songs in the past (and I wouldn't be surprised if they are sick of it!). But the special thing is that these songs are written specifically for voice(s) and harp, and it was the 17-year-old Jessica Sudarta who worked hard in accompanying them. They all did a great job, I must say, and I hope they would record these songs. ............................................................................................................................................ Next is the audition for my opera Tumirah, on Sunday, September 27th. We still need good baritones, a tenor and a supporting role who is an alto. Are you one of them? Well why don't you join us?

My original article for The Jakarta Post : An Open Letter for the Foreign Embassies

Yeah, my original title is that one you see above. Anyway, this article was published at The Jakarta Post on Saturday, August 29th, and here I post my original one, unedited. ............................................................................................................................................ For dozens of years, we Indonesians have enjoyed so many great performances by fabulous international artists, thanks to the generosity of the foreign Embassies in Jakarta. Those performances have opened our minds, broadened our insight and deepened our (artistic) knowledge. They are also usually presented mostly free of charge, so the people who are really interested and have the necessity to learn from them but are not so prosperous could have access to the performances. They provide the lay audience to come, see, experience and taste these art performances for the first time. In fact, during my childhood coming from not such a wealthy family I was one of those lay audience, and thanks to the classical music performances by The British Council, Erasmus Huis, Goethe Institut or Centre Culturel Francais (now IFI) I found my interest in classical music -- and just look what I am doing right now. ............................................................................................................................................ But is the impact of those free performances 100% positive? This is the issue I have been discussing with many foreign diplomats residing in Jakarta, mostly the Cultural Attaches. Of course it is the best way to introduce their culture, arts and artists. And cultural diplomacy is, as we know, perhaps the most effective way to build a strong understanding and solidarity among the people between two countries. But free performances unfortunately do not support the development of art in a sustainable manner. For the last few years, we see a real boom in the quantity and quality of concerts by local artists and local organizers. This becomes a major problem because classical music performances initiated by local organizers are unsubsidized, so we depend a lot on the income from the public. The writer, as a performance artist who also encourages performances by young Indonesian musicians, has received hundreds of messages through these years which are basically just variations on the same theme: Why should we pay to go to concerts by Indonesian (classical) musicians, if we can go to see Western musicians for free? And after hundreds of times explaining the reason behind it, they still (naturally) prefer to go to free concerts. Not that my concerts lack audience, but I know many cases where people complained that "this" or "that" concert could have been free. Especially in Indonesia, where I feel that there is still this feeling of "everything-western-is-better-than-our-own" by many Indonesians, therefore many prefer "western" art to Indonesian ones -- especially if they are free! That is not certainly the case with other things in life: nobody reserves a table in a restaurant and ask: can my girlfriend and I have 2 free meals? Since music is not tangible, or even edible, it doesn't mean that it is free. ............................................................................................................................................ Consciousness to invest in the arts must be built since our early ages, and free concert phenomenon destroys this very concept : that art belongs to everybody, and if one needs it (and certainly we all need it!), we should pay for it, just like we need food or other forms of necessity. Certainly it cannot be built by distributing free tickets to the performance. Free concerts also means that the willingness of the audience to pay to attend a similar concert in the long run will not be developed and encouraged, therefore it is unhealthy to the continuing situation of the arts. What is more, is that the appreciation to any kind of free things are usually low. "Free" often means "disposable", just like when we are handed out free snacks on the street, we often just taste it a bit and then we do not necessarily eat it again or even immediately discard it, after establishing an opinion that that thing we just ate is "cheap" and "not worth eating again". ............................................................................................................................................ A solution, if Embassies are prohibited by the governments to charge tickets to the audience, is to donate the income from the tickets to a cause. The tickets doesn't have to be necessarily "entrance tickets", they could be in a form of invitation "with a donation". The audience should be educated that every kind of art is a production, and any kind of production costs money and we who enjoy it should contribute to it. That is how artists earn our living. The price of the tickets -- or donation in this case -- can also be very cheap. The fare is not what matters here since the purpose is not to cover the production cost; it is the feeling that art is not something free which is important. The amount can be just a symbolic sum, perhaps equal as a cinema ticket, but one will appreciate the performance differently when we know that we, too, contribute to the existence and preservation of what we are enjoying. If its price is even lower than a piece of sandwich, then we know which persons really do NOT care for the performance. ............................................................................................................................................ Contributing to the arts means also contributing to the betterment of the society. Now that the arts subsidies are hugely cut in European countries, this issue will not only be an Indonesian problem, but a widely international one. The arts and culture will go back to where it really belongs : from the people, by the people, for the people. But it could be too late before we realized it.

Changing Partners, all in 1 month

September will be a month of my "infidelity". I will change partners almost every week ! ............................................................................................................................................ September will start with the closing concert of the month-long program "Inspired by the Master" which is successfully invented and realize by ID_Camp. It is a company founded by Dewi Atmodjo and Irene Widharma, both are musicians with certain inquietude to better the music education in Indonesia. On Sunday, 6th of September I will perform my "Pieces of Cakes" duets with 6 selected students out of 33, but you will have a chance to hear them all play their solo works too, PLUS (this is very exciting) you will hear some winners from the Ananda Sukarlan Junior Award recently held in Makassar. This will be divided in 2 sessions, from 2-4 p.m., and 6-8 p.m., each session will feature around 16-18 (very) young and talented pianists. They have studied my music, directly learn from the composer and now they know that it is of utmost importance that they have their own ideas and interpretatins of the music. That's how music grows and stay alive! I will play one Rapsodia Nusantara in each session too (different for each session, obviously). Wanna enjoy a Sunday with your kids? Come then. It takes place at Teater Kecil, Taman Ismail Marzuki. ............................................................................................................................................ Starting 2 days later, I will perform some of my works based on literature, as well as my newest Rapsodia Nusantara numbers in 2 concerts in 1 week. It will be a kind of retrospective of the two aspects of my compositional activities that I focus on lately. For this event I've invited some of the best young Indonesian classical singers namely, soprano Mariska Setiawan, soprano coloratura Evelyn Merrelita and tenor Nikodemus Lukas. In addition, harpist Jessica Sudarta (17) will also feature in one of the concerts. The concerts will take place on September the 8th at Usmar Ismail Hall at 7 p.m. (in collaboration with the Embassy of Peru) and September the 13th at The Dharmawangsa Hotel at 4 p.m (in collaboration with the Rotary Club, Central Jakarta). Here are the details (I am copy pasting from the press release by the organizers) : ............................................................................................................................................ The Embassy of Peru has entrusted Ananda to make the celebration concert for the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Peru. Naturally, the elements of both countries and cultures are present in this concert. Peru will invite its top baritone, Rudi Fernandez Cardenas and Indonesia will be represented by soprano coloratura Evelyn Merrelita. Not only that, there will be a World Premiere of a brand new musical work by Ananda, "Amistad" ("Friendship") for flute, piano and string quartet which contains an interesting and highly unique combination of Peruvian and Indonesian musical elements. The program includes works based on Peruvian poets Cesar Vallejo and Jose Luis Mejia, as well as Indonesian poets Sirikit Syah, Wiji Thukul as well as music by composer Mochtar Embut. The interesting element here is that the Peruvian baritone will sing some Indonesian songs, and the Indonesian soprano will sing some Peruvian (Spanish) songs, so this is really a symbol of exchange of cultural understanding. This unique concert will take place at the USMAR ISMAIL HALL (Jl. Rasuna Said, Kuningan), on Tuesday, September 8th at 7 p.m., preceded by a Peruvian typical cocktail. ............................................................................................................................................ Ananda will play for the first time in Indonesia his three brand new numbers of the highly virtuosic Rapsodia Nusantara which will be one of the major attractions for the event. Ananda and friends will also present the transformation of great masterpieces of literature to music, such as "La Ronde" (from the famous poem by Sitor Situmorang), Darkness and My Lover (on "The Sleepers" by Walt Whitman) as well as poems by Didik Siswantono, Sapardi Djoko Damono, Bernard Batubara and Adimas Immanuel. The best of Indonesia's younger generation singers are represented here: winners of the National Vocal Competition "Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan" Mariska Setiawan (soprano) and Nikodemus Lukas (tenor), both in their early 20s. Mariska & Niko will also perform famous classical works such as O Mio Babbino Caro (from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918), music by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Giovacchino Forzano) and La Donna e Mobile (from the opera Rigoletto (1851), music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo). ............................................................................................................................................ This concert is a fundraising event for the charities which Rotary Club Jakarta Sentral supports. It will take place at the Bimansena Club at Dharmawangsa, Jalan Dharmawangsa Raya No 23, Kebayoran Baru , on Sunday, September 13th at 4 p.m. As the theme of the concert is "Tea with Ananda", the event will start with “High Tea” commencing at 3.30 p.m. The capacity of the venue is limited to 150 seats. ............................................................................................................................................ These series of concerts might be the ones that give me the most satisfaction, since I admire each and every one of my partners. From good musicians, each with their own personalities however weird, they inspire me, and I learn a lot from them. Yeah yeah, including those kids who perform with me at the "Inspired by the Master". I believe in young people, since I learn a lot from my daughter since she was very small. They have their own way of looking at this world, and that is very stimulating and reinvigorating for me. And the future of classical music in Indonesia is in their (small) hands! (photo, from l. to r : Mariska Setiawan, Jessica Sudarta, Nikodemus Lukas)

Klarifikasi berita ASA Junior 2015 dan pengumuman ASA International 2016

Terima kasih saya ucapkan kepada para peserta, juri dan penyelenggara Ananda Sukarlan Junior Award 2015 di Makassar. Mengorganisasi suatu kompetisi piano tingkat nasional bukan suatu hal yang mudah. Dari pihak saya maupun organisasi tentu tetap ada kekurangan, namun saya sangat-sangat berterimakasih kepada seluruh tim Grazioso Music School yang dipimpin Eveline Philips dan "tangan kanannya" Riz Ramadhan, serta Chendra Panatan yang semua dapat menyelesaikan segala hal dengan baik dan besar sumbangannya dalam meletakkan Makassar dalam peta musik sastra Indonesia. ............................................................................................................................................ Saya ingin mengklarifikasi beberapa berita di media yang keluar setelah kompetisi. Ini bukan cari-cari alasan, tapi saya ingin menceritakan keadaan setelah 3 hari yang sangat intensif, terfokus dan konsentrasi terhadap banyak hal yang tentu sangat melelahkan. Di saat-saat seperti itu, saya harus melayani puluhan pertanyaan dari wartawan melalui WhatsApp atau telepon, yang dapat menimbulkan kesalahpahaman data, salah eja nama pemenang, atau salah kota dari mana mereka berasal. Ada beberapa berita yang kurang data, atau rancu, yang dapat mengecewakan beberapa pemenang / peserta. Saya tidak ingin menyalahkan penulis berita di media tsb., karena saya bertanggungjawab atas segala kejelasan data untuk semua yang tertulis di media resmi, baik online maupun cetak. Tapi saya TIDAK bertanggungjawab atas segala tulisan orang lain di media sosial. Untuk ini kami mohon maaf. Mohon cek link ini yang singkat dan akurat, karena interview kami lakukan dengan TERTULIS lewat email. http://www.ciputranews.com/event/surabaya-dominasi-kompetisi-piano-nasional-ananda-sukarlan-award-junior#.Vdsy6v1YK8Q.twitter ............................................................................................................................................ Perkenankanlah saya di kesempatan ini untuk menginformasikan 2 hal untuk ASA International Piano Competition tahun depan. Walaupun kami akan mengundang juri dari luar negeri, selain dalam negeri, ASA 2016 akan diperuntukkan HANYA UNTUK PIANIS INDONESIA (yang artinya berkewarganegaraan, atau memiliki paspor Indonesia). Ini karena kami mempunyai tanggungjawab moral untuk memperkenalkan pianis bangsa kita, dengan mengirimnya ke negara lain seperti kesempatan yang kami berikan kepada Anthony Hartono, pemenang ASA International 2014, ke Perancis. Kami harapkan pemenang ASA akan dapat menjadi duta musik negaranya, baik di dunia internasional maupun di negara kita sendiri. Baru minggu lalu, seorang pemenang kompetisi vokal nasional "Tembang Puitik Ananda Sukarlan" yang kini telah memiliki karir yang cukup berkembang, soprano Mariska Setiawan, menuliskan essay yang bagus sebagai tulisan perdana di blognya sebagai pemusik Indonesia yang sedang belajar di luar negeri. Silakan cek : https://mariskasetiawan.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/halo-dunia/ ............................................................................................................................................ Kami juga mengadakan 1 kategori NON-KOMPETITIF di ASA International 2016 nanti : Kategori untuk pianis DIFABEL dan DISABILITAS (penyandang cacat fisik, mental, atau keduanya). Kategori ini bertujuan untuk memberi mimbar / platform bagi mereka untuk menunjukkan pentingnya peranan musik dalam pendidikan, perkembangan dan bagian dari hidup mereka yang dapat dibagikan kepada publik. Info lebih detail akan kami sampaikan lebih lanjut dalam beberapa minggu kedepan. ............................................................................................................................................ Demikian keterangan dari saya. Silakan menjadi member facebook kami untuk mengetahui berita2 lebih lanjut : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ananda-Sukarlan-Award-International-Piano-Competition/639403892799464?fref=ts

Me and My "Prostitutes"

In fact I had not wanted to talk about my next opera, but since there is this open audition for the singers and the enthusiasm has been mounting, now it's like everybody talks about it. So I better write a bit on it, mostly to clarify what it IS and it is NOT about. From its title "Tumirah, Sang Mucikari" (Madame Tumirah, the Pimp), most people would assume that there are many sexually (pretty) explicit scenes in it. WRONG. Yeah, the female main roles are damn beautiful and nice to look at (apart from the fact that they sing like angels), but don't expect to see lots of their naked body parts! Yeah, the words "f*ck", "org*sm" and the likes are abundant, and as with Seno Gumira Ajidarma's other works, the language is pretty direct and less poetic. But this opera, in the end, is about love, and its difference from pure sex. And it is, like most of Seno Gumira's works, a social criticism, not only about the industry of sex, but about social justice. ............................................................................................................................................. The "judges" for the audition will be me and Chendra Panatan, my manager and also the choreographer & director of this opera. Please note: the voice remains the most important aspect for us, but also the gestures and appearance will have something to do with our decision to accept the singers. They don't have to dance, but they will be required to do some moving around and certain gestures in the opera. But remember, the crucial issue is still the quality of the voice. ............................................................................................................................................. In fact, there is another very important thing, but one cannot get it through auditions, and that is ATTITUDE. Remember: what is needed from artists is our PRODUCT. If you think people are more interested in your ego, your charisma, your selfies, you are dead wrong. If one acts like a diva but sucks in his/her product, whether it's the singing or whatever, one better not consider a career in classical music. But of course during the audition I cannot measure your attitude. So, just sing like an angel, and if you happen to be a divo/a, well, the rest of the musicians will have to eat that shit you give us. I am sorry for myself and the whole team to have to put up with Your Fabulousness. But remember, being a selfish diva and think that one is the center of the world is disgusting. OK, OK, we understand you are the best and the rest suck, but show it with your voice, with your ARTISTIC PRODUCT, not with your judgemental tweets or facebook status or condescending attitude. But hey, if you can sing well, do you still need to be an asshole? ............................................................................................................................................. Many amateur singers still think that an opera is like a musical : they sing 1 or 2 numbers, and that's it. The rest of the time they can use it for gossiping or criticizing other singers. WRONG. Each singer should be "on" almost during the whole opera, and one interacts with each other through recitatives and dialogues. So, one really got to know the music, the score. And the attitude affects other people in the production ; rehearsal time is limited, so each and every one has to be extremely prepared with his/her own parts. ............................................................................................................................................. For now we have the main roles, which are played by Artidewi (she has a unique voice which can sometimes sound "rocky", which will be exploited here) as the protagonist, "THE PIMP". Next are her prostitutes, Mariska Setiawan (soprano) and Evelyn Merrelita (coloratura soprano). They will be accompanied by a few female dancers, also acting as prostitutes. And then there is the tenor Widhawan Aryo Pradhita (who rocked Jakarta as "the police" in my previous opera, CLARA, and contributed to grab the award for Best Performing Arts 2014 by the TEMPO Magazine). We would need some male singers and still an extra "prostitute", but she will have to be an alto to complete the female voices. Anybody?

The Power of (Grandma's) Love

This is just a short entry, but a meaningful one, at least for me. Since I came back from my holiday in Madrid, I've started writing the actual notes for my new opera. It's not easy I must say, since I am still having doubts with the structure of the work ; it's a complex one, and I gotta change the order of some scenes from the original play. There are some instrumental interludes and long arias which would work for the original drama staging, but would be disproportional if one sets it to music. Anyway, I also had that problem in my 2nd Chamber Symphony recently finished : I was stuck, and then I realized that the flaw lay in the basic structure. I just changed the form during the ongoing process of composing, and it turned out ... err .. OK, I think (the premiere is still exactly 1 month from now, so I shouldn't say anything yet!). So, I concluded that I'd stop worrying, I just gotta start writing my opera, and if I get stuck later, I will just go back and see if the problem would be in the changing of scenes. ............................................................................................................................................. Anyway, I see that this opera is no small issue, so I was hoping that I could ask to postpone its World Premiere (due to be in February next year). To be honest, I was having trouble in beginning to write it. I felt clueless and scared in front of the blank, white music paper. Before I told my disquietude to the producer, I chatted with one of the sopranos for that opera about my anxiety. I shall quote her reaction, literally: ............................................................................................................................................. "Ooooh nooo ! My grandma [who lives in Germany] would visit Indonesia in February, and she was already so excited to know that it coincides with my operatic debut. If it were postponed, she would miss it, since she couldn't come in any other period to Indonesia. She'd be so disappointed!". The point is, she lives in Surabaya, so even though she would be in Indonesia in February, she still would have to fly to Jakarta to see her beloved (and very talented) granddaughter for the premiere. Yeah, that's how great the love of a grandma is. ............................................................................................................................................. Needless to say, this conversation immediately revoked my decision to talk to the producer, and my motivation to sit my ass and work got a big boost! Grandmas rock!

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.