I Was Born But... PERUSAL SCORE
Silent film by Yasujiro Ozu (Japan, 1932)
Score by Ed Hughes (2005)
An acutely observed, perfectly paced family drama from the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu, with a new score for an ensemble of six musicians originally written for the Bath Film Festival and the New Music Players.
Chamber music for silent film. Flute, clarinet, piano, percussion, violin, cello
Duration: 90 Minutes
To buy the score and/or parts (via UYMP)
Programme Note
Conceived as a live performance accompaniment to screenings of the silent film I Was Born, But... by Yasujiro Ozu (Japan, 1932). Released in 2011 as a specially recorded soundtrack on BFIB1070.
Many of the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu’s (1903-1963) early films are lost. However, I Was Born, But... survives – a feature-length silent film made in 1932, lasting 88 minutes, offering a window into middle-class Japan in a very particular historical moment. I Was Born, But... is a delightful comedy shot through with profound observational humour. The Yoshii family is moving from the country to a suburb of Tokyo. Mr Yoshii and his wife have two sons, elder son (Ryoichi) and younger son (unnamed). Mr Yoshii wants to live closer to his boss, Iwasaki, who happens to be an amateur film-maker, in order to improve his chances of promotion at the office. The Yoshii sons soon run into trouble with a gang of local boys, led by the bully and Iwasaki’s son, Taro. Events unfold and reach a resolution.
My approach was to create a score using a western ensemble but to learn from the beautifully orchestrated scenes in the film by observing, generally, a lightness in the musical textures. My score matches the cyclic, repeating patterns of the film (certain scenes recur – the home, the school, the office – and this creates a pattern of meaning reflected in the repetitions and variations in the music). I also matched specific qualities in the visuals. For example in the film’s most reflective points, I wrote for solo flute and solo alto flute, creating a faint echo of the most traditional of Japanese musical instruments, the shakuhachi.
Ed Hughes.
This version was recorded in 2010 for the BFI. It was released on the Ozu Collection. (Good Morning + I Was Born, But... BFIB1070).
The recording was made by The New Music Players, conducted by Roger Montgomery
Flute/Alto Flute: Rowland Sutherland
Clarinet: Fiona Cross
Violin: Susanne Stazeleit
Cello: Oliver Coates
Piano: Richard Casey
Percussion: Tim Palmer
Chamber music silent film