To keep photographing the same city is to search familiar surroundings for expressions that will never appear again.
October, then November, 2026.
I turned my camera toward Umeda, preserving the city as it appeared on each particular day, at each particular moment.
The seasons do not change all at once.
In the angle of the light, the color of the sky, and the air surrounding the streets, the next season gradually makes its presence felt.
When I arrange the photographs, I begin to see a passage of time that I had not noticed while taking them.
To these autumn views of Umeda, I have added performances by three pianists.
Maurizio Pollini, Masaya Kamei, and Nobuyuki Tsujii.
In that order, their music accompanies the photographs in this 4K film.
It begins with Pollini performing Chopin’s Nocturne No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 9, No. 1, and Nocturne No. 2 in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2.
As I listen closely to the nocturnes, something in the city’s landscape seems to speak softly to me.
A melody sings, and in its lingering resonance, familiar Umeda reveals a new expression.
Time stands still within a photograph.
Yet when I contemplate it with music, the feelings held within that instant slowly begin to move.
Next comes Balakirev’s “Islamey,” performed by Masaya Kamei.
Here, the film’s breathing changes.
The mind that had been listening to song is drawn into incisive rhythms and surging movement.
To me, it feels as though the energy stored within the city is being released through sound.
Then comes Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker” Suite, arranged for piano by Pletnev and performed by Nobuyuki Tsujii.
The selections appear in this order: “Intermezzo,” “Trepak,” “Tea (Chinese Dance),” and “Pas de deux.”
The piano opens one distinct scene after another.
An inward song, a buoyant dance, a lightness of expression, and a melody that opens out on a grand scale.
As these scenes change, so do my feelings as I look upon the autumn city.
By the final “Pas de deux,” the moments I have gathered with my camera seem to come together within a single, extended song.
I created this film in preparation for George Harliono’s piano recital at Sumitomo Life Izumi Hall on November 14.
Even while we wait for a concert, our encounter with the music has already begun.
I listen repeatedly to recordings, select photographs, and arrange them along the course of the music.
Through that process, I listen more closely to the details of each work and look anew at the landscapes I have photographed.
How will Harliono bring to life these pieces that I have come to know through the performances of Pollini, Masaya Kamei, and Nobuyuki Tsujii?
I want to encounter new expressions born from the same scores.
Watching Umeda’s light change from October into November, I look forward to that day.