Update Title: F82F9A7B-F129-4170-B28A-454849E299AA

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Commissioned by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, with additional funding from the Holcomb Research Foundation and the Arts Council of Indianapolis, Samurai is Michael Schelle's emotional reaction to the debilitating stroke of his father, and the passing of Japan's most famous film director, Akira Kurosawa.  In three interrelated connecting sections (slow, fast, and 'prayer with thunder') Samurai is not a portrait of these men, but is 'inspired' by the 'eternal warrior' dimension of the composer's father, and by Kurosawa's filmmaking techniques and aesthetic.  The piece intentionally avoids hackneyed and predictable musical resources, ethnic and cultural inferences and specific Kurosawa film references...i.e., the work does not "sound" Japanese...but rather fuses individualized musical gestures to generate a more universal - yet personal - feeling of loss tempered with optimism, spirit and courage.

Schelle's interest and research in Japanese film and music does not stop with Kurosawa, but the director's death was probably the 'final blow' for the composer.  Within a year, the world witnessed the passing of the two great Japanese composers Toshiro Mayuzumi and Toru Takemitsu, and the greatest of all Kurosawa actors, Toshiro Mifune...not to mention the death of Tanaka (Japan's Toho Studios original Godzilla creator), and the passing of the Godzilla torch to American filmmakers (which most critics agree was the real death of Godzilla!).

Samurai was premiered by the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra in February, 1999, Neal Gittlemann conducting.  --Michael Schelle

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