DA·MA·SHI·E

Joe Hisaishi wrote DA·MA·SHI·E in 1985 for the album α-BET-CITY and orchestrated it in 2009 for the album MinimaRhythm with the London Symphony Orchestra. 

In Japanese, damashie means “trompe-l’oeil” or “optical illusion.” For Joe Hisaishi, the title DA·MA·SHI·E is a tribute to the Dutch artist M.C. Escher (1898-1972), known for his math-inspired illustrations of impossible objects and other visual trickery. The piece is not a musical adaptation of a particular Escher picture, but rather a take on his “very logical” sensibility “with some essence of humor,” as Hisaishi puts it.

DA·MA·SHI·E was composed in 1985 for the solo album α-BET-CITY. Originally scored for a small ensemble, Hisaishi recomposed it for orchestra for the 2009 album MinimaRhythm with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Hisaishi provided the following description of DA·MA·SHI·E, which is based on slowly evolving repetitions:

This piece is structured by eight different phrases. Those are born from the first violin motives which are performed in very beginning of this piece. It changes the color of the entire piece by the brass instruments hitting very strong notes and going between A major and B-flat major. In the last half, the chorales of the brass instruments join playing the eight motives. It makes the ending long blessed, and this piece became very joyful and positive.

Benjamin Pesetsky

Benjamin Pesetsky is a composer and writer. He serves on the staff of the San Francisco Symphony and also contributes program notes for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Melbourne Symphony.