CJ Replay: Japanese Choral Music

(Yesterday’s “Stick Time” column on ChoralBuzz featured a choral work accompanied by Koto.  Today we continue examining Japanese choral music with an excerpt from the Choral Journal article “Choral Music in Japan: A Hybrid Art” by Anthony J. Palmer)

 

       Japanese choral music has adapted a Western form and transformed it by fusing it with traditional Japanese elements. That which enlivens any art is connected to deep roots of the culture. As Japanese traditional music is essentially monodic, its expression takes on subtle melodic nuances, particularly relying on microtonal fluctuations to color the line. Although melody in Japanese contemporary choral composition usually dispenses with microtones, the vestiges can be heard in melodic construction where the text demands such treatment. Harmony in the Western sense is a relatively recent phenomenon in Japanese music. That it shouldbe applied differently in that country than in Western cultures is not surprising.

       The transformation of the Western choral form has been especially marked by the infusion of folk music into the choral medium and the interest of composers in expressing the profound integration of the Japanese psyche with nature. The manner in which these two features are expressed has created a uniquely exciting body of choral literature that deserves explorationby Western choral conductors and a wide hearing by Western audiences.