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​​Yasurhio Takanaka

Hierophany
for violin and orchestra 

Composer's note

To designate the manifestation of the sacred, the term hierophany (from Greek hiero-, “sacred”, and phainein, “to show”) was proposed by Mircea Eliade who was the historian of religions.“The man of the archaic societies tends to live as much as possible in the sacred or in close proximity to consecrated objects.” “The sacred tree, the sacred stone are not adored as stone or tree; they are worshipped precisely because they are hierophanies, because they show something that is no longer stone or tree but the sacred, the ganz andere.” “But for those to whom a stone reveals itself as sacred, its immediate reality is transmuted into a supernatural reality. In other words, all nature is capable of revealing itself as cosmic sacrality. The cosmos in its entirety can become a hierophany.” *

Modern man, who lives in the “desacralized” world that attaches value to progress, “finds it difficult to accept the fact that the sacred can be manifested in stones or trees” and “experiences a certain uneasiness before” this concept. If he attaches too much importance to the world of consciousness with an inflexible mental attitude, won’t the human existence become separated from fundamentals underlying it?

In “Hierophany”, I open the door to the depths that give significance to our existence, the door to the depths that make this world better, give us bliss and even heal our souls.
* Mircea Eliade; The Sacred and the Profane, The Nature of Religion
   

Winner of Free Range​​
the 2023 ACO composition competiton
in association with Universal Edition, Vienna
  
FRANCIS BATTAH
composer of Traduttore, Traditore

Mullord Award
YASUHIRO TAKENAKA
composer of Hierophany 

FRANCIS BATTAH
also receives third prize for
Trois Paysages

Francis Battah is a Québécois Montreal-based composer. After graduating in classical and jazz piano, Francis obtained a bachelor's degree in composition from the Université de Montréal and a master's degree in composition from McGill University. He studied composition with Denys Bouliane, Alan Belkin, Denis Gougeon and Ana Sokolović.

His works for solo instruments, chamber ensembles and orchestra have been performed on numerous occasions, Bozzini Vancouver Lab, the Concours de musique du Canada, the Prix d’Europe, the composition residency of the Orchestre de la Francophonie, the Soir Festival, and events from La Société de Concerts de Montréal, the Vivier programmation, and the Montreal Contemporary Music Lab. Francis has received several commissions from
performers such as Louis-Philippe Bonin, Charlotte Layec (Bakarlari), Philippe Prud'homme, Benyamin Rota, Michel Raymond and the Trio Émerillon.
In the fall of 2017, the Orchestre de l’Agora (cond. Nicolas Ellis) performed one of his works, as part of a fundraising campaign for Les Porteurs de Musique foundation. The work, Kiwis and Men, written with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, allowed Francis to win the Prix collégien de musique contemporaine 2018-2019.

In July 2019, Francis won a third prize at the Antonín Dvořák International Composition Competition in Prague, as well as a special prize for the best fugue. He also won several prizes in the SOCAN Foundation's composition competition: third prize in the solo / duo category (2020), first prize for chamber ensemble (2021) and the 2021 Grand Prize.

As an independent producer, Francis has organized several concerts and published some of his works for piano and chamber ensemble, all accessible on streaming platforms.

Francis is the winner of the Orchestre Métropolitain L’héritage de Beethoven composition competition (2020), with his piece Prélude aux paysages urbains, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He is also a finalist for the Prix Collégien de musique contemporaine 2022-2023 and recipient of the Andrew Svoboda Award 2022.
  
Portrait photograph of Francis Battah © Denis Cloutie


Of ‘Traduttore, Traditore’ – one adjudicator wrote: 
The marriage of live sound and electronics is beautifully conceived and composed. The work is imaginative and passionate in the rises and falls of the musical tides. Another: magisterial sonic glistening crystalline architecture.
 

Francis Battah
Traduttore, traditore
for chamber orchestra

Progamme notes 

We know the famous expression Traduttore, Traditore, Translator, traitor. It describes the thankless task incumbent on translators to restore the original meaning of a text in another language. Could such an adage apply to music? If several musical languages ​​coexisted in a single work, one could imagine the composer as a kind of interpreter guiding the listener from one language to another by means of a musical translation. But the task is not without risks! These multiple back and forths between musical languages ​​generate strange distortions, anamorphoses, deforming prisms. Sometimes it even happens that the translator loses control over his material, which drives him to a breaking point: it is a “trahison”, by which the original meaning of the music is totally transformed.
 
In Traduottre, Traditore, these multiple "musical languages" are suggested by the meeting of several systems of intonation: just, Pythagorean and equal temperament. This cohabitation is made possible by the use of three "reference" electronic keyboards, whose instrumentalists can change the intonation in real time, thus serving as a guide for other musicians. From the clash of these systems, musics with multiple colors, references and associations are born, with their own form and trajectories. What would be the message that circulates through these metamorphoses?

The numinous nature of this work found particular resonance with one adjudicator:

The work presented shows a flair for scoring skill with competent imagination to get the shimmering timbral textures that manifest non-personal forms of the divine that the composer wants to express in this essay. The aeriated texture possess the necessary force and power at the services of the complex nature of  holiness. 
Special Commendation

SKUGGALJOS
GISLI MAGNUSSON
ICELAND

Honourable Mentions

UTAMAI
MUGI YASUMOTO
JAPAN

RUST
MICHAEL EDGERTON
USA (SWEDEN)

LIGHT PARTICLES
JOAO OLIVEIRA
PORTUGAL (USA)

CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SEE
NAHUEL LITWIN
ARGENTINA

HALJA
DAVID HOLLEBER
GERMANY

BAHN MUSIC – HOMMAGE A HONEGGER
MATE BALOGH
HUNGARY

Adjudicators

ROGER BRIGGS First Prize in ACO Composers' Competition


Administration

TREVOR HUNTLEY
The Alvarez Chamber Orchestra is delighted and honoured to be supported by
Universal Edition Vienna for this year's competition.

Our esteemed collaborators have enabled us to extend prizes to all entrants by offering a voucher for a free submission to scodo, and supplementing the First Prize of £1000 with publication by Universal Edition worth €600 in addition to our Second Prize: The Mullord Award - £500 and Third Prize of £250.





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This year's competition attracted entries from around from five continents.
Amongst these entries were composers from Australia, Brazil, Chile, USA, UK,
Iceland, Hungary, Albania Sweden, China, Japan and Iran,
representing a wide range of nationalities, ages and musical styles..