The aftershocks still continue

I wrote “Sanriku Songs“ for the victims of the East-North Japan Earthquake, to the tune of three tanka poems written by Meiko Matsudaira. After that I wrote “Aftershocks”, a piece commissioned by Agnes Krumwiede of the German Green Party. At the end of the piano piece, the pianist read a tanka poem by Meiko Matsudaira.

“How strong is the blue sky?
The aftershocks, looking up at the cracked sky.”

I still get nervous when I read this phrase.