of you that have not had a chance to look at the text very briefly this is a parody of buddhist ritual. a priest decides he is going to show the powers of mystic buddhism and he appears and on the alter with different sorts ofornmen of owns and then progresses through profound things and all of these are tongue twisters but it's he first round of tongue twisters nothing happens and the priest is very upset and blushes extraordinary red and he tries again. the second time the chants are much shorter and he begins to lose his patience and

again nothing happens. third time nothing happens and he basically says how much time to turn to the wonderrous powers of the lotus set raand he does chanting and the parody is something like if anyone is old enough to remember and the mouse before vatican two and you don't understand anything and it's mumbo jump bow and this is a parody of that. the second and third pieces before the intermission i will not introduce. i think the program notes are sufficient and rather than lecture i would much rather you enjoy the performance. the one thing i would like to emphasize about the first piece this is indeed a comic piece and

in most instances westerners have a great problem when they come to a concert of classical music and view it as this is supposed to be serious music. this is not serious music and i would ask to you laugh. you are welcome to laugh. you may laugh. you need to practice laughing. we can progress -- all right. now, for those of you that find laughing difficult ladies and gentlemens you can at this timtiter in a nice way andf you want to be butch about it do the manly thought. please this isn't a work of aesthetic value it should be seen as humorous. as i of practicing this piece i can assure you and my ability for tongue twisters in english

is limited let alone in japanese so if you see me stop and the priest turn extraordinarily red it's because i had a booboo. if you will excuse me.

(music) this is the sort of thing you don't normally see. this would be a curtain and the oil makes it easier to play. (music) (speaking japanese)

(japanese music).

(applause). (music).

(applause).

(music)

(music)