Deadweight of Love

Deadweight of Love: Serenata Nō constitutes a musical hybrid not only in its combination of traditional Nō singing with contemporary composition, but also in its use of a stage play as the basis for a concert work. As a counterpart to its hybrid nature, however, the piece emanates from a single conceptual association derived from the Japanese kanji 謡. A typical Nō play, culminating in the dance of the shite (main actor) that follows the revelation of the protagonist as a spirit or transformation into one, is in essence dance drama. Deadweight of Love introduces dance into the concert setting by transferring this function to the violin.