Yu Kosuge's multi-year, four album project comes to a close

Many years in the making, and including some of the most magnificent of all piano repertoire, the Four Elements cycle from Yu Kosuge came to a close this January with the final volume: Earth.

Below we’ve brought all the volumes together, along with some of Yu’s own writing on each.

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“The four elements are unified through Love (Philia) into one cosmos, andseparated by Strife (Neikos). They are the roots of everything: past, present  and future.”

Empedocles (c.483 – c.423 BC)

“Our daily life has become routinely convenient in today’s society. We can get in touch with others wherever we are, and can travel anywhere easily. However, we could ask ourselves if our way of life is natural: are the depth of our relationships with one another, and our way of sharing time getting closer to the essence of humanity, or are we moving away from it? What is the meaning of our life nowadays?

Through “Four Elements”, those most essential to our universe, I wish to face these questions with my audience. Passed on by many philosophers from diverse eras since before Christ, the four-element theory has been interpreted differently in each cultural, religious or national background, giving birth to numerous myths and thoughts. Musically speaking, the four elements inspired composers’ imaginations to create not only images or impressions but also works with profound metaphoric messages based on literature or philosophy. These abundant pieces differ widely from each other; from clear, subtle or pure to cruel, passionate or demonic. Even if belonging to a fantasy or imaginary world, their poetry and emotions are always connected with our reality. I would like to visit these works born by nature to explore the origin of this wonderful world and the beauty of our life itself.”

Yu Kosuge

Water is considered the most essential element for living by any culture. In fact, 90 percent of the adult human body consists of water, and for Christians, water symbolizes the origin of existence. It is considered to be pure and calm, but on the other hand, causes chaos and floods, a source of destruction (Noah’s Flood)! In a word, this element brings about both vitality and death. Also, the flow of water is a metaphor for “eternity”. I put this program together thinking of this “flow” from past to future, from the real world to the unknown, and the power of water itself.

In Greek mythology, the Titan god Prometheus stole fire from the gods and passed it on to humankind. The fire, which brought with it warmth and light, gave power to humans and marked the beginning of human civilization.

This album begins with pieces reflecting the warmth of fire. The fireside, which warms your body and soul, has a feeling of dreaminess and nostalgia.

But fire also brings about disaster. The German word for hell, “Fegefeuer”, when literally translated, means “cleansing fire”. Fire can symbolise the devil, or it can chase away bad spirits. But it is also connected with passion and climax, and is often used as a symbol for sensuality and ecstasy.

By showing these many different aspects of fire, I want to lead the listener through different stories as told by composers, from the Romantic to Contemporary periods.

When I was searching for pieces on this theme, I found many were coincidentally from around the time of World War I (1914-1918). Whilst every composer experienced the shadow of war in different ways and from different countries, and often expressed this in their music, they have one thing in common: an experimentation with harmony, which developed from tonal to atonal.

“Le vent se lève!… Il faut tenter de vivre!”
from Le Cimetière Marin by Paul Valéry

The Four Elements series reaches its turning point and this time, the theme is “wind”.
In the Old Testament, Genesis tells of the birth of Adam, the first human, in this way: “God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” (transl. from The King James Bible). Christianity, mythology and ancient legends instil a belief in something invisible, such as a soul or spirit, in human life. In ancient Greek, the word “pneuma” originally meant “air, wind or breath”, but was later understood as “principle of existence”. It also shares this origin with the Latin word spiritus, which evolved then to spirit in English, and to esprit in French.
In Four Elements Vol.3, I focus on the invisible: Breath, Wind, Air, Soul, and Life.
From natural depictions of fresh breeze, through the mysterious world of gods, to pieces which reflect most intimately on the human soul.

My ‘Four Elements’ project now comes to an end with the theme of “Earth”.

Water, Fire and Wind are all elements necessary to a human being, but with Earth we get close to the human being itself, and our own struggles in life.
We are born from earth, and through the unconditional love of our parents we each grow up in our own, individual way. The environment of a human being is shaped by the language, nature and even the music which surrounds us, and we can change through our experiences.
On this final disc, we wander through the most beautiful nature while questioning our life and our identity in solitude. At the end of our lives, we die and go back to earth. But death can be caused unnaturally. We arrive at two pieces dedicated to the loss of innocent young lives due to the cruel monstrosity of humans. In the end, earth can be a place where we feel safe and loved, with the nostalgia and longing for home something we all feel in our lives.