MUSICAL WORKS

OSAKA Naotoshi / 小坂直敏

1996

Mirror Stone / 鏡石 / Kagamiishi

Birth Y: 1953 Birth C: JAPAN Gender: Male

Dest: Concert

Media Specification: Mixed music

Performer(s): Ayako Nishikawa (Flute), Naotoshi Osaka (Computer)

First perf.: Computer Music Today II, organized by Japan Computer Music Association at Kobe Zebec Hall, July 13, 1996

Instruments: For Flute, Violin, Cello, Piano, and computer (conductor)

Production Periods: 1996

Prog. notes: o Program Note
The composer has been creating a series of music under the theme of mirrors. This piece refers to the story ``Mirror Stone'' by R. Seymour. A mirror reflects an exact image of an object. But it is a reverse image, and it gives the impression that the world in a mirror is completely different, even though it resembles the real world on the surface. This story set up the “mirror stone” as a subject which perfectly reflects things even the inner world of a human being. It also treats the world in a mirror as a mysterious and magical one. Although such an interpretation of a mirror is not special in stories, the aim of the piece is to express such a mysterious and magical atmosphere using sounds.
o Technical note
A timbre control technique in which a timbre of an original instrument is gradually changed to a different timbre is used here. This technique is called ``morphing''. The morphing technique is now widely known in computer graphics, but is still under study in sound synthesis. In this piece, modification of a flute timbre is the main concern, and morphing is widely used all over in the piece.
Two characteristics of sound synthesis and music performance are as follows:
1. Real time sound signal processing using NeXT + ISPW and MAX.
2. Timbre interpolation technique by sound morphing.
The are two types of sound morphing: one done by a performer, regarded as an advanced player technique, and the other, an off line signal processing technique done by a computer. This piece combines the two types. Also, reverberation, pitch shift and various effects are implemented by MAX.
References
[Seymour 1988] Richard Seymour, Michael Palin and Alan Lee, “The Mirrorstone,” Jonathan Cape Ltd,

Editor: N. Osaka (Sept. 17, 2012)

Comment: Osaka's Reg. No. 6