I’m home — and gradually recovering — from the CBDNA convention in Ann Arbor last week. I had three performances during the week, and had an all-around good time. Central Michigan University gave a performance of “Redline Tango” that had people talking, Texas Christian University gave the premiere of the newly-revised version of “Turning,” and Rick Clary conducted “Turbine” with the Florida State Wind Orchestra in the best performance that piece will probably ever have. Rick’s performance was, in fact, one of the top two performances I’ve ever had of any of my music, in any medium, ever.

I don’t have a recording of the “Turbine” performance yet, but I do — finally! — have a great recording of my new piece, “Turning,” and I’ve posted it. The dynamic range is a bit extreme, going from ffff to pppp on the first page, so you’ll need good headphones or some great speakers to hear what’s happening. Bobby and his ensemble did a wonderful job. I hope you’ll give it a listen.

I do have a few pictures from the trip… I met up with some of the gang from my recent trip to Japan! Here I am with them and Steve Bryant. Steve’s piece “Stampede” was performed during the convention. (I raved about “Stampede” in this previous entry.)

Here’s Rick rehearsing his group during the dress rehearsal. Note that this is not “Turbine.” How can you tell? Because there’s a harp. This kind of made me wish that I’d included a harp part in Turbine — just to give it a little extra volume.

Rick’s concert included the best performance I’ve heard of Jonathan Newman’s gorgeous work, “As the Scent of Spring Rain.” Newman’s piece, a perfect six minutes of almost-Bergian bliss (albeit a lot more tuneful than Berg, of course), was the lyrical hit of the convention. I’m excited to receive the CD of the concert so I can hear this performance again. Everybody is going to be playing this piece next spring.

The concert ended with Dan Welcher’s newest symphony, a surprisingly accessible take on serial technique.
Here’s a shot of (left to right) Rick Clary, me looking short and dorky, Dan Welcher (looking a bit like a dashing anchorman), and Jonathan Newman.

One of my favorite composers — John Adams! — attended the Michigan Symphonic Band concert on Friday night. He sat two rows in front of me. That’s the back of his head. (Michael Daugherty is on his right.)

And if that wasn’t enough composers for ya, I got my picture taken with Frank Ticheli! I was so excited!

I think Frank was less excited than I was. If he could have used his middle finger on that magazine cover, I think he would have.

So, a great convention. Now go listen to “Turning.” And if you have a band, go program “As the Scent of Spring Rain.”

On Thursday, AEJ and I returned home after an incredible eight days in Japan. I definitely intend to write several blog entries about the trip — an entry about our arrival, the rehearsals for “Kingfishers Catch Fire,” the premiere, the crazy autographs (I signed things I never imagined signing — but nothing inappropriate, perv)… an entry about our two days in Kyoto… my first real sushi dinner in Japan… our night at Tawaraya, a 300 year-old inn in Kyoto… our last day in Tokyo… so much stuff — probably at least 5 entries worth. I want to write about the concert first, and I hoped to post that entry today, but time got away from me.

Newman picked us up at the airport on Thursday, and we spent much of the day going through mail and trying to recover. On Friday, I spent the day mastering the recording of the premiere of “Kingfishers Catch Fire.” (It sounds, I have to say, phenomenal — the most successful premiere I can remember, thanks to the performance the students gave. It usually takes a half-dozen performances before I feel like I’ve heard a piece, but it’s going to be tough to get a better performance than this premiere.) Saturday, I printed scores and such for this week’s CBDNA convention in Ann Arbor, and that night, AEJ, Newman, and I had dinner with Eric Whitacre and his lovely wife (and soprano-extraordinaire) Hila Plitman. Sunday, we accompanied Newman to the USC performance of his piece, “Chunk,” under the heavily-groovy baton of H. Robert Reynolds. (You really haven’t lived until you’ve seen H. Bob conduct dirty funk. It was funktastic. It was funking sweet.) We had dinner after the concert, and then Newman headed back to NYC.

Today I spent the day binding scores for Shattinger Music to sell at CBDNA, and ran a big ol’ list of errands to prepare for the trip. I leave first thing in the morning, and I haven’t started packing yet. So, unfortunately, no Japan entry today.

But here are a few teaser photos. Here’s the view from our hotel room the first night, in the Ginza section of Tokyo…

Here’s Ichiro Saito conducting the dress rehearsal of “Kingfishers Catch Fire“…

(I wish I could pull of orange pants, but it just wouldn’t work on me.) And here are some musicians waiting for an autograph — while mothers are taking my picture. It was kind of insane…

We took over 1400 pictures while we were there, and a ridiculous number of them turned out well. It’s kind of hard to take a bad picture of a beautiful Japanese temple. So, those will be coming soon. But for now, it’s off to Ann Arbor, where I’ll have three performances this week: “Turning” with the Texas Christian University Wind Ensemble (conducted by Bobby Francis), “Redline Tango” with the Central Michigan University Wind Ensemble (conducted by John Williamson), and “Turbine” with the Florida State University Wind Orchestra, conducted by Rick Clary.

Oh, and there will be lots of drinking.

I’ll be home Sunday, and then I’m done traveling for work until fall. So I’ll just be writing the Sax Concerto, and catching up on blog entries — I promise!

AEJ and I have been in Japan since Thursday (Japan time — which is Wednesday-ish in America), and a whole lot has happened. Kind of an amazing amount, considering how long we’ve been here. And every minute has been incredible. I’ll write a lot more over the next few weeks — it’s going to take at least that long to get these blog entries out — but I wanted to write a short one tonight, just about tonight, because this was a special evening that I’ll remember for a long, long time.

Tonight, AEJ and I were dinner guests of Mr. Kohtai Yoh, one of the consortium members of my new piece, “Kingfishers Catch Fire.” (The work premiered here in Japan on Saturday — that’s why we’re here — but more on that another time.) Yoh-san conducted a wonderful performance of “Redline Tango” with the Kannonji Daiichi High School band — also on Saturday. Yoh-san lives in Kobe — the birthplace of Kobe beef. I think you know where this is going.

So Yoh-san invited AEJ and I — as well as his friend, Toshiya Iwata, another consortium member of “Kingfishers Catch Fire” — to join him for Kobe beef dinner tonight. Kobe beef is… well, here’s one definition I just found:

“Kobe Beef is a legendary delicacy of Japan, a type of beef that is so well marbled that it goes right off the charts for Prime grading in any other country. The meat ends up looking like it has been left out in the snow because of the intensiveness of the white fat marbling, rivals foie gras for richness and caloric content, and costs an obscene amount, often $300 a pound or more for the real thing from Japan.”

This was, to state the obvious, the most “real thing” this real thing can be. We had it not just in Kobe, but at the steak house that created what Americans know as the “Japanese Steak House” — Kobe Misano, the first Teppanyaki-style steak house. Think Benihana — but with Kobe beef, and with a mastery of cooking, rather than the mastery of flipping flaming shrimp tails into your shirt pocket.

So the trip started by taking the Shinkansen (the Japanese “bullet train”) from Kyoto, where we’re now staying, to Kobe, about a 30-minute ride. (Sorry — it’s really difficult to get a picture of the Shinkansen in focus.)

Kobe is a lovely city. The area where the restaurant is located is bright, cheerful, bustling, and like every other part of Japan we’ve seen — immaculately clean.

And this is Kobe beef. This is probably over a pound of it. I’ve no idea what it actually costs in Kobe — typical of Japanese tradition, Yoh-san would not let us pay, or even see the bill — but in the US, I’ve seen “Kobe” beef for $30 an ounce. This, in America, would have easily been $400 worth of steak. And worth every penny, I have to say.

But that was just to look at — for now. And I wasn’t the only one who wanted to photograph the beautiful pieces of beef. Iwata-san took a picture with his camera phone.

Our first course was this incredible appetizer, which I believe was a cured ham. Mmm…

And then something I wouldn’t have expected — and would never have thought of trying had I been anywhere else : Kobe beef sashimi. Completely raw, fresh Kobe beef, served just with wasabi and a little dish of soy sauce.

This was the first chance I had to taste it. Oh. My. God. Even served sashimi-style, it melted in my mouth. You’d expect, with all of that marbling, that it would be fatty, but it didn’t “read” fatty at all. It had the texture of incredible fish sashimi. And the flavor was amazing. I loved that we were given the opportunity to experience the beef completely pure like this.

Other things were cooked, of course. Here is the onion, mushroom, and Japanese eggplant. I have to say that it was the first time I’d had eggplant and actually liked it.

Remember our lovely steaks from the beginning? Here they are, finally cooking — just on sliced garlic. They’re cooked not in oil, but only in their own fat, rendered from the previously cooked steaks.

And there was this nice, simple salad.

Things are getting going on the steaks now…

And here was the first serving. (It just kept coming, but the chef only prepared a little at a time so we always had hot steak to eat.)

Even the sprouts were incredible. Sprouts! Who the hell loves sprouts?! Not me, normally — but tonight, the secret was that they were cooked in Kobe beef fat. I had thought things were delicious when cooked in bacon fat, but this was worlds beyond that. I’ve honestly never had such delicious (and rich) vegetables in my life. From now on, I want all of my veggies cooked in the fat of the most prized beef in the world.

Also cooked in the Kobe beef fat: fried rice. Just simple rice, garlic, and beef flavoring. Good lord, would the deliciousness ever stop?!

Japanese pickled vegetables.

And at last, after two hours of incredibly decadent food, a lovely, light dessert. The raspberry sorbet totally hit the spot after all of that beefy goodness. (Sadly, the other ice cream was simply vanilla — not beef flavored. The only mis-step in an otherwise fantastically beefy meal!)

And here I am, back at the train station in Kobe, with two of the kindest people I’ve ever met — Toshiya Iwata (left — holding an autographed score of “Kingfishers Catch Fire”) and Kohtai Yoh (right).

This was one of the most incredible meals of my life. How many people have Kobe beef — in Kobe, Japan, at the steak house that invented the Japanese steak house?!?! I hate the word “blessed” and all of the baggage that goes along with it, but tonight, I sincerely felt blessed. As I’ve felt every day in Japan, there aren’t words to thank Yoh-san — and everybody we’ve met — for their generosity.

Japan has the loveliest people I’ve ever met.