Ian Cusson
Sinfonietta Metamoderna for orchestra
From the G. Schirmer Rental Library
Date of Printing________________
New York, NY
G. Schirmer, Inc.
Ian Cusson 1Q84
Sinfonietta
Metamoderna for orchestra
Score
Commissioned by Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Alexander Shelley,
First performed on July 4, 2024
New York, NY
G. Schirmer, Inc.
Music Director
at Southam Hall in Ottawa, Ontario by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Alexander Shelley, conductor.
Piccolo
2 Flutes
2 Oboes
English Horn
Clarinet in Eb
2 Clarinets in Bb
3 Bassoons (III = Contrabassoon)
4 Horns in F
Piccolo Trumpet in Bb
2 Trumpets in C
2 Tenor Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (2 players)
Player 1: Snare Drum, Tom-toms, Crash Cymbal, Sizzle Cymbal, Suspended Cymbal, Tam-tam, Crotales
Player 2: Bass Drum, Tambourine, Wood Blocks, Xylophone
Harp
Celesta
Strings (14.14.8.8.6 )
Program Note:
1Q84: Sinfonietta Metamoderna is inspired by the novel 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.
It is April 1984. On her way to her next hit, professional assassin and fitness instructor, Aomame, finds herself stuck in traffic on Tokyo’s Metropolitan Expressway 3. The radio is blasting Janacek’s Sinfonietta. So as not to be late, she exits the taxi and climbs down the emergency stairway. In so doing, she enters the world of 1Q84—an alternate version of the world she knows, where the sky has two moons, and where the leader of a powerful cult is controlled by the Little People. She thinks often about a boy she once knew, Tengo.
Tengo, now 30 years old, is a cram school instructor and the ghostwriter for the highly successful novel, Air Chrysalis—a story about a powerful cult under the control of supernatural beings called Little People who move about between worlds through the mouths of their victims. Tengo longs to reconnect with a girl whose hand he held briefly when he was a child.
Aomame is sent to kill the Leader of the cult. The Little People swarm in a fit to stop her. A violent storm thunders above the city. Aomame assassinates Leader and goes into hiding until she can escape 1Q84. But before leaving this world she needs to find the boy she has loved since she was a child when they briefly held each others’ hand after class. While in hiding she discovers that she is pregnant. Despite not having seen Tengo for 20 years, she learns that she is pregnant with his child.
Tengo and Aomame reunite. They climb up the emergency stairway to Metropolitan Expressway 3 to get back into the world they left behind. Standing on the Expressway, they realize they may just have stepped into a new unfamiliar world, but it is a world they will journey through together.
— Ian Cusson