Kenjiro Ezaki

Kenjiro Ezaki (Japanese: 江崎健次郎) was born on 27 October 1926 in Tainan, Taiwan, at that time part of the Japanese Empire. He studied at Nihon University in Tokyo from 1953 to 1957 and studied composition with Yoritsune Matsudaira.
In 1956 Ezaki won first prize in the chamber music category of the 25th Japan Music Competition. In the same period he became one of the founding members of the avant-garde composers' circle GROUP 20.5 together with Yoriaki Matsudaira, Hifumi Shimoyama, Hidenao Ito and Yoshio Tamano. The group was particularly concerned with new compositional techniques, including twelve-tone music, and remained active until 1961.
Ezaki attracted international attention with his "Moving Pulses" for three voices and percussion, composed in 1961. The work was selected for the 1962 ISCM World Music Days and was performed at London's Wigmore Hall on 6 June 1962. In 1964 Ezaki also received first place at the inaugural Kyoto City Music Prize.
Increasingly interested in electronic and computer music, Ezaki received a Fulbright scholarship and went to the United States in September 1965. He first worked at the Experimental Music Studio of the University of Illinois, where he became acquainted with the developing field of computer music, and subsequently studied electronic sound synthesis at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, where Vladimir Ussachevsky was one of the leading figures. A concert presenting eight works Ezaki had produced during his stay was held in the United States in August 1966. He returned to Japan the following month.
In October 1966 Ezaki established his own studio in Tokyo, the "Tokyo Tape Music and Acoustic Studio". Unlike the electronic music studio of the Japanese broadcaster NHK, access to which had been highly restricted, Ezaki's studio also provided younger composers with opportunities to work with electronic sound. He subsequently became an important figure in the Japanese sound-design movement and was involved in the foundation of the Sound Designers' Association and its experimental concert series "Exhibition of Sound". His studio was later renamed Sound Design Company.
During the second half of the 1960s Ezaki was one of the Japanese composers most actively engaged with the possibilities of computers in music. He published articles on computer music and in 1969 composed "Computer Music No. 1" using a FACOM 270-30 computer. The work was presented at the Furukawa Group Pavilion during Expo '70 in Osaka and belongs to the earliest Japanese compositions created with computer technology.
Ezaki continued to compose both instrumental and electronic works. His compositions include "Concretion" for string trio, "Discretion" for female voice, "Music for Guitar and Electronic Sound", "Musicronics No. 1", "Requiem 1970", "Liaison" for twelve-channel tape and numerous electronic and tape compositions. He also wrote music for films, radio and television and was involved in commercial sound design.
Ezaki remained active into old age. In 2002 he composed the Piano Sonata "Etanos I". He was also interviewed extensively about his work and the beginnings of electronic music in Japan for Koji Kawasaki's study "Electronic Music in Japan", published in an expanded edition in 2009.

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the Symphonic poem "Japanese scenery" for orchestra. The work was completed in June 1958 according to the manuscript. That means this is the earliest known composition by Kenjiro Ezaki. The manuscript found in the musical estate of Carlos Veerhoff.

In addition to the autograph manuscript I own also a few printed scores by Kenjiro Ezaki. These are:

• Moving pulses, for 3 voices and percussions (1961), published by Ongaku-no-Tomo Sha as "contemporary japanese music series 4"
• Discretion, for female voice (1962), published by Ongaku-no-Tomo Sha as "contemporary japanese music series 4"
• Trio for violin, cello and piano (1964), published by Ongaku-no-Tomo Sha as "contemporary japanese music series 59"

The scores from "Japanese scenery", "Moving pulses" and "Discretion" (composed within 4 years) show the rapid evolution in score notation from traditional to graphic: