The curtain for the concert celebrating my 50th debut anniversary is about to open at last.
The first of the series will be pre-concerts in December, which are concerts of unaccompanied works by Ysaÿe, a composer not so well known to the general public.
The six unaccompanied sonatas by the Belgian composer Eugène Ysaÿe is an unfinished work.
Ysaÿe, a great admirer of Bach, who often listened to all of Bach’s unaccompanied violin music, was stimulated and is said to have come up with the idea for all his six unaccompanied violin sonatas within a single night.
I have been obsessed with Ysaÿe for about 40 years. His works are not easy. Rather, they are philosophical and delve into the soul and are not pieces of music just about technique, although he has incorporated many difficult and unusual techniques into them. Each of the six completed violin sonatas has individual characters, with different nuances and sounds as if they were composed by different composers, which makes them so attractive.
I think I was in my first year of high school when I encountered these pieces for the first time.
I was electrified when I heard a senior student playing Ysaÿe’s sonata No. 6. On another occasion, I heard a different violinist play the No.3 Ballade, which stimulated my senses and I was unable to calm down for some time. From then on, I have loved Ysaÿe so much.
I was 20 years old when I first really started confronting these pieces. At 20, my career was at its lowest point, falling into a deep slump as a violinist. The sobbing and melodies of lament and the energy of anger heard in No.4, attracted me than ever before.
However, once I started playing, I had to struggle with the unbelievably difficult fingering which caused muscle pain, and the strange tone rows, that were so exhausting just reading the score. But that was the reason I found it even more interesting. As I explored and investigated facing each of Ysaÿe’s scores to reach his world, to my surprise, what I found was something within my heart.
At the time, I was in this darkness and the phrase that expressed fear that unfolded at the beginning of the piece was like trying to go somewhere in search of light stretching out my hands with the help of my feet. High notes made me want to shout and scream. The heavy ff seemed like notes crying out with sadness, and the delicate whisper of pp expressed solitude. I could easily relate to such a complex character of Ysaÿe at the time. It was like looking at myself. I became so fond of Ysaÿe and felt that I would always stay close to this piece, and never part from them.
It was surely Bach and Ysaÿe pieces that stood by my side when I was going through that time of frustration. But Bach seemed too sublime and dazzling for me, while Ysaÿe seemed to stand by my side and would never leave. True cries of the heart are likely to be expressed in unaccompanied performances. The sorrow and anguish that make your body squirm, the kind of expression from deep inside your heart, sometimes anger, sometimes despair, and sometimes a hunger for tenderness that brings you joy in the occasional glimmer of hope.
There are six pieces of Ysaÿe’s unaccompanied Sonatas in complete form and also an unfinished piece that has recently been found. When I first read the unfinished score, I couldn’t comprehend what it was all about. I thought “This is not Ysaÿe, this is not even a score, this might be nothing” and I put it aside once. After a few months, I started staring at it again. I felt that it was trying to tell me something, so I began approaching it little by little. Now, this unfinished piece is a little life within myself that Ysaÿe left for me, which has completely stuck in my heart.
So, if I may mention once again, my 50th debut anniversary will start next year. This December,
I have chosen to perform all six sonatas plus the unfinished piece of Ysaÿe, as a pre-concert.
It is not easy for me to say “Please come and listen” as they are not fun pieces and are difficult to listen to.
I think it is something for those who are troubled, or those who are in sorrow, or a chaotic state with anger and despair, and hope that they would come along to listen to the unaccompanied concert. With this in mind, I will be performing Ysaÿe at the pre-concerts in December, Tokyo (2oth) and Hyogo (22nd).