Watanabe - ver_flies_sen for violin, violoncello and piano

This piece's German title has three meanings, all of which are phonically unrelated in English: Fliese (= n.: tile), fließen (= v.i.: to flow, to stream) and verfließen (= v.i. pass by).

I had started writing the piece when I saw the beautiful picture O Hungaro (The Hungarian) by the Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão, in which she depicts a tiled swimming pool. The tiles – all of them of identical - seem to be contorted, due to the water.

That became the inspiration for my piece. First, I built the fundament – nine invisible layers, all of them moving in different tempi; then I placed suitable notes overtop.

The music is in constant motion, sometimes losing its shape inscrutably, like tiles in the water or vague old memories as one looks back on them.

Yukiko Watanabe

Translation © Grant Chorley

Yukiko Watanabe is the winner of the Ö1 Talentebörse – Kompositionspreis 2011. A cooperation of ORF/Ö1 Talentebörse, Österreichische Nationalbank and Universal Edition.