Uebayashi, Y :: Le Vent a Travers les Ruines

Yuko Uebayashi's Le Vent a Travers les Ruines [The Wind Through the Ruins] was highly praised as an 'extremely appealing' upon its premiere, being published immediately by Lemoine and entering several international competitions as a test piece.

'Uebayashi composes with imagery in two different ways. The first is the simple idea of imagery of things we can see and feel in our everyday life, for example, landscape, light, and paintings. The other is more emotionally based. She does not simply depict the images in her compositions, but rather transforms the inspiration she perceives from these images into emotions. The most representative example of this imagery-based composition is seen in, Le Vent A Travers Les Ruines for flute solo. Here she depicts the ruins of a monastery, but adds her own experiences of seeing these ruins through more complex emotions she felt. One can examine her emotions more clearly through the poetic program note at the premier:'

No one questions why the monastery became a ruin.
There may have been someone standing at the remains of the monastery or a cow walking by from somewhere, but no one asks the question why.
Clouds move ever so slowly, butterflies fly, and sparking fluff dances in the sunlight. After many years, there still remain reddish brown stone. They just sit there.
And the earth exists as if to embrace all matters, while nature repeats her cycle.
A breeze floats by.
Yes, I have become the wind that breezes through these ruins. I do not ask questions, and everything looks so gentle and glowing...'

- The Flute Music of Yuko Uebayashi; Pei-San Chiu, 2016