KENJI FUJIMURA - COMPOSER
SELECTED COMPOSITIONS
Click on the titles (link) for sheet music
SOLO INSTRUMENTS/VOICE
Ballade to Anxiety for piano solo (new imprint in preparation)
This work was selected by pianist Yumi Suehiro for inclusion in her Vox Novus concert in New York, and was premiered by her in New York in May 2014. The composition was inspired by the composer overhearing a piano student struggling with Chopin's Fourth Ballade.
Duration: approx. 1 minute.
Phantasy for piano solo (now available)
Phantasy for piano solo was commissioned and first performed by Tamara Smolyar in November 2017. A request for the commission was for the work to be linked to Sergei Rachmaninoff's Trio Elegiaque No.1. As such, the Phantasy takes a four-note theme from the Trio's principal theme and utilises this throughout the duration of the work. The work also reimagines the 'phantasy' form which was made popular in England by Walter Cobbett in the late nineteenth-early twentieth century.
Duration: approx. 10 mins.
Re-Inventions for piano solo (now available)
Re-Inventions - Suite for piano was commissioned in 2017 and was first performed in May 2017 at the International New Music Week in Bucharest, Romania. The work investigates the tradition of transcription, 'modernisation' and re-composition throughout the centuries to present a work which utilises themes and motives of extant music by Jean Baptiste Lully, Pancrace Royer, Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, Tomaso Antonio Vitali, Henry Purcell, Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as the melodies of Watkins Ale (anon.) and the carol 'To-morrow shall be my dancing day'.
Duration: approx. 10 minutes
Three Albumleaves for piano solo (now available)
Three Albumleaves for piano solo were first written around 1990. After finding these sketches in 2019, they were tidied up and given their premiere performance by the composer on 28 May 2020 on the Melbourne Digital Concert Hall.
Duration: approx. 6 mins.
Three Mini Concert Etudes for piano solo (now available)
Commissioned in 2021, the Three Mini Concert Etudes were inspired by the composer's piano students' difficulties in finding appropriate concert studies for their university assessments. 1 - Vision - was inspired by the global turbulence of the year 2020 and focusses on octave and arpeggio technique as well as wrist movement. The second - Reflets - is a poignant, melancholy respite with attention given to chordal voicing and layering. The third - Galop - adds an element of finger dexterity into the mix, hurtling to the end. First performance April 2021.
Duration: approx. 6 minutes.
Sunrise Over the Ruins for piano solo (score in preparation)
Comissioned in 2018 and first performed in June 2018, the work is an evocative aural landscape depicting the gradual brightening of the dawn sky.
Duration: approx. 7 minutes.
Variations on a Highland Air for piano solo (new imprint in preparation)
"Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing
Onward, the sailors cry!
Carry the lad that's born to be King
Over the sea to Skye"
The Variations on a Highland Air was inspired by the 'Skye Boat Song' - one of Scotland's best-loved folk songs that depicts the escape of 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' from the British in 1746 after failing to restore the House of Stuart to the throne. First published in 1884, the song has remained a popular symbol of Scottish nationalism, to the extent that it is taught in primary schools throughout Scotland today. Although based on the 'Skye Boat Song', Variations on a Highland Air does not begin with the theme itself. Rather, it challenges the traditional variation form by beginning with an inversion of the main theme - a symbolic reference to the defiance of the Scottish people.
The work further subverts conventions by linking all variations in a through-composed manner, as if recalling the contrasting but interlinked characteristics of the Scottish heritage - from the pastoral, idyllic, and warm-hearted, to the feisty, resilient, and resolute. Allusions to Scotland's tumultuous history are apparent in the D minor and ensuing D Major variations, but amidst the turmoil, the recognisable 'Skye Boat Song' theme emerges in a hauntingly beautiful chorale-like form. The theme gradually unfolds into a poignant and majestic finale that signifies the enduring Scottish spirit. (Notes by Julia Lu)
Written in August 2016 and first performed in Melbourne, Australia during August-September 2016.
Duration: approx. 10 minutes
Au revoir for violin and piano (now available)
Au revoir for violin and piano was composed on 14 March 2014 for the VirtualArtists 'Simply Stunning' Composition Competition. As the winning work of this award, the first performance was given in May 2014 by Aria Cheregosha (violin) and Julie Harris (piano) inNorth Carolina, USA. The Australian premiere followed in October 2014 in Melbourne, performed by Elizabeth Sellars (violin) and Tamara Smolyar (piano).
Duration: approx. 3 minutes.
The Colour for voice and piano (new imprint in preparation)
"What shall I bring you? Please will white do Best for your wearing The long day through?"
"White is for weddings, Weddings, weddings, White is for weddings, And that won't do."
"What shall I bring you? Please will red do Best for your wearing The long day through?"
"Red is for soldiers, Soldiers, soldiers, Red is for soldiers, And that won't do."
"What shall I bring you? Please will blue do Best for your wearing The long day through?"
"Blue is for sailors, Sailors, sailors, Blue is for sailors, And that won't do.
"What shall I bring you? Please will green do Best for your wearing The long day through?"
"Green is for mayings, Mayings, mayings, Green is for mayings, And that won't do."
"What shall I bring you Then? Will black do Best for your wearing The long day through?"
"Black is for mourning, Mourning, mourning, Black is for mourning, And black will do." (Thomas Hardy/Wessex folk rhyme)
Duration: approx. 3.5 minutes.
A little Lullaby for voice and piano (new imprint in preparation)
(Bb3 - Db5)
Lullaby Love, lullaby Sweet, Rest little hands, rest little feet; Dreaming of birds warm in the nest Lullaby Love close to my breast.
Hush little voice, hush little cries, Sleep gently, kiss soft pretty eyes; Sleeping the lamb, Sleeping the bee, Lullaby Love, closer to me. (C. Lusted)
Duration: approx. 2 minutes.
Bug chase for bassoon solo
Duration: approx. 1 minute
CHAMBER MUSIC
Three Postcards for Violin and Viola (new imprint in preparation)
Three Postcards for violin and viola was written for, and won, the 2005 William Lincer Foundation International Chamber Music Composition Competition. In three movements, each movement can also be performed separately.No.1 - ...leaving Platform Two...No.2 - The Old Abbey No.3 - In the Air...crossing the seas...
Echoes of the Silver Screen for piano trio (Piano Trio No.1) (new imprint in preparation)
Written for Trio Anima Mundi, it was first performed by this ensemble in 2015 as part of their 2015 'Something Old, Something New' subscription series. Taking this theme as a starting point, it borrows thematic material from the Au Revoir for violin and piano then adopts a variation form as a framework for developing various emotive portrayals akin to a cinema soundtrack.
Duration: approx. 10 minutes
Pandemic Memoirs (Piano Trio No.2) (new imprint in preparation)
Written for Trio Anima Mundi and first performed by the ensemble in 2022. Supported by a City of Melbourne Grant.
Duration: approx. 10 minutes
Ballan Suite for bassoon, cello, and piano (in preparation)
Commissioned in 2022, this three-movement work is inspired by an avian theme to coincide with the Birds in Ballan 2022 at which it was premiered.
Duration: approx. 10 minutes
All Aboard! for flute, cello, bassoon, and piano (in preparation)
Commissioned and first performed in 2023, the piece takes its inspiration for train travel, and in particular the rail line through Ballan and Moorabool Shire.
Duration: approx. 5 minutes
Francium-223 for string quartet
Duration: approx. 5 minutes
Matsuri no Asa (Festival Dawn) for clarinet, string quartet, and piano
Written for the 2016 Singapore Asian Composers Festival, it received its premiere performance in Singapore as a winning work of the festival. In two main sections, the first depicts the sunrise on the day of a traditional festival, whilst the second part depicts the festivities.
Duration: approx. 4 minutes.
A Sonnet to Old Dreams for clarinet, strings quintet, and piano (now available)
Written for the 2018 Ensemble de la Belle Musique 'Love and Longing' call for scores, the work was premiered by the group in Singapore in June 2018.
Duration: approx. 5 minutes
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ORCHESTRAL WORKS
Winter Wonderland for orchestra
This work depicts a day at the Sapporo Snow Festival. Opening with a flourish, the composition follows the promenading of visitors enjoying the surroundings and ice sculptures. Introduction - Snow Festival Avenue - the bitter Arctic wind - a grandfather watching the children skating - promenade - mother by the fire, reading to her son... - looking up at Taipei 101 - approaching the bustle of Flinders Street Station. Written for Orchestra Victoria as part of the Symphony Australia Composer Development Program, it was given its premiere by Orchestra Victoria and Richard Mills in 2006.
Duration: approx. 5 minutes.
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Episodes concertants for piano and orchestra