European American Music Distributors Company is a member of the Schott Music Group

Shin-Ichiro Ikebe's Sphinx Temptation - Three Little Pieces for Tambourine and Piano is Published

Oct. 01, 2020

Shin-Ichiro Ikebe's Sphinx Temptation - Three Little Pieces for Tambourine and Piano has been published by Zen-On. The world premiere was given over thirty years ago on June 27, 1990 in Cairo, Egypt, performed by Yasser H. Moawad (tambourine and commissioner) and Greig Martin (piano). Shin-ichiro Ikebe notes:

"In the 1980s, Japan was providing financial assistance to Egypt for the opera house in their capital of Cairo, and I was involved with the musical exchange between Japan and Egypt. I went to Egypt fairly frequently and I became familiar with the orchestra there (the Cairo Symphony Orchestra). A young percussionist in the orchestra, Yasser Hussein Moawad, wanted me to write music for the tambourine. He gave me a presentation on the tambourine in my hotel room, and was very earnest.

I promised to compose the piece in Japan and bring it with me the next time. But I had a hard time writing it. At last, my work in Egypt ended in the fall of 1988. I decided to finish writing it while still in Cairo, and this is what I composed at the hotel. The recording of the premiere in the completed opera house was sent to me one and a half years later. It was like I had forgotten about it, but since the Japanese premiere in 2003 for my 60th birthday concert with Sumire Yoshihara on the tambourine and Aki Takahashi on the piano, it has often been performed. At first, the title was “Three Little Pieces for Tambourine and Piano”. However, for publication, I made that the subtitle and added the title “Sphinx Temptation”. This is because getting to know Moawad, who asked me to write it, makes me think of the wonder of the Sphinx." 

Sphinx Temptation - Three Little Pieces for Tambourine and Piano was recently performed at the concert “Works of Shin-Ichiro Ikebe Project Vol. 5 - Contemporary Works Performed on Educational Instruments", presented by the Tokyo Concerts Lab on September 25. That performance was part of an annual concert series featuring compositions by Shin-Ichiro Ikebe.

Listen to Shin-Ichiro Ikebe's Bivalence X for two mandolins:

(Bivalence X/Shin-Ichiro Ikebe/Takaaki Shibata and Masataka Hori, mandolins)

To learn more about Shin-Ichiro Ikebe, visit: zen-on.co.jp.

Shin-Ichiro Ikebe
Sphinx Temptation - Three Little Pieces for Tambourine and Piano (1988)
11'

News