This piece was written back in 2004, I think this was my first ever commission from Japan, which is the country of my birth. I remember they asked me I could include a guitar, and I decided what I actually wanted to write for was distorted electric rock guitar.

When I was writing this work, I was thinking about my high school life, just after I moved from Japan to the UK. I was living in a dormitory in which every single boy aspired to play the guitar, probably motivated by a desire to impress girls rather than trying to express deepest feelings by creating their own music. I remember hearing the same pop music phrase played badly over and over again from neighbouring rooms throughout the dormitory.

When composing 'Abandoned time' I remember I wanted to use the classic techniques of rock guitar music, like finger tapping, palm mutes, bending the note upwards by pushing the string upwards - all those things which you can hear and watch on a rock music video; very different from the pianissimo way of using electric guitar which I sometimes see in contemporary music. Vibraphone and piano materials are extension of the harmonics played on electric guitar, and some stretched harmony played by the ensemble are the extension and effect of the sound of wah-wah on a distortion pedal of an electric guitar.

I am writing this programme note in 2012, looking back at what was in my mind when I wrote the work in 2004, looking even further back at my high school experience in 1993. It all feels very nostalgic, in a distorted way, as if I'm looking through a prism.

Dai Fujikura (edited by Miranda Jackson)

ガンズ＆ローゼスの2枚アルバムが出て、みんなどこ歩いてもそのアルバムカヴァーのTシャツを着ていたころ、僕は
15歳で、イギリスの高校の寮にいました。、そこではピアノやってるのは僕だけで、やっぱみんなギターをやってる
奴らが多く、（もちろんちゃんと弾けない）　みんな宿題やらほっぽってガンズ、メガデス、メタリカ、ちょっと彼
女のいる奴らなんかは　エリック　クラプトンなんかを必死に練習してたのを思い出します。
僕もよくキーボードを一緒に弾かされたり、あと最後には自分のポップバンドも組んで、もちろん作曲アレンジは全
部僕がやってそこの地域のコンサートなんかで弾いたこともあります。そのころはイギリスに渡ってすぐだったので
言葉が全然わからなかったので、こうやって音楽やってると即友達になれたのがとても印象深く覚えてます。

今回、ロックギターの作品を書くためにいろいろなギターリスト、　ジミヘン　から　ロバート　フリップなどいろ
いろと聴き、僕の友人が80年代にロンドンで活躍していた実験的ロックバンドのギターリストだったのでその人の家
に行ってギターの事を聞いたりして、大変楽しみながら、あと僕の高校生活を思い出しながら作りました。

藤倉大