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New Publication of Joe Hisaishi's World Dreams Suite Released by Zen-On

Apr. 16, 2022

Zen-On has released a new publication of Joe Hisaishi's World Dreams Suite. The work was premiered by Joe Hisaishi and the New Japan Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra in 2019. The composer notes: 

"I composed World Dreams, the first movement of the present work, for the World Dream Orchestra (WDO), the ensemble which began working in consort with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004.

The world entered an era of disunity following the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, and I felt strongly that it was no longer possible to act in accordance with the same values that we had held until then. It was this feeling that made me want to compose a piece that conceived of the world as a single unity rather than one that focused on the differences between nations, a piece featuring a resplendent melody in the manner of a national anthem.

The images I had in mind as I composed the piece were those of the aircraft crashing into the World Trade Center in New York and of ordinary people and children escaping the ravages of war in Afghanistan and Iraq. The world has hardly changed in the meantime as we witness the plight of Ukraine in 2022. Where are we heading? Despite the despair one feels, I would like to believe that a world of peace—if such as thing is possible—will one day come into being, as epitomized by the idea of ‘world dreams’.

I had had the idea of composing the World Dreams Suite for some time and finally completed the work in 2019 in the form of a suite lasting approximately thirteen minutes scored for an orchestra with triple winds and around ninety players using material from various other pieces I had been working on. The work consists of three movements, the first entitled "World Dreams". The second movement, "Driving to Future", is a lively minimalist piece, while the third movement, "Diary", is a majestic piece suggesting a national anthem.

World Dreams Suite was first performed on a tour given by the World Dream Orchestra in 2019 and conducted by myself."


("JOE HISAISHI & WORLD DREAM ORCHESTRA 2021" – Special Online Distribution/
Recorded by The New Japan Philharmonic World Dream Orchestra
at Sumida Triphony Hall, Tokyo, April 24, 2021. Conducted by Joe Hisaishi)

To learn more about Joe Hisaishi, visit: zen-on.co.jp.

Joe Hisaishi
World Dreams Suite
I. World Dreams - II. Driving to Future - III. Diary
for orchestra
pic.2.2.eh.2+bscl.3(3.dbn)-4.3.3 or 2+btrbn.1-timp,perc-hp-pno(cel)-strings
13'
Materials on hire

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