Among my memories from the 1990s, when I first encountered the music Cinderella’s Waltz by Sergei Prokofiev, what impressed itself most strongly in my mind was the feeling that Cinderella’s Waltz seemed to express a psychological drama beyond that of a simple dance piece.

Various characteristics, such as the sudden appearance of dissonance within a fairytale like beautiful melody, the mechanical sense of rhythm, the occasional sharp sound of the wind instruments, the abrupt shifts in atmosphere created by movements from deep low registers to extreme high ones, the dark mood formed by the low strings, the cold and cynical orchestration, and finally the merciless twelve-o’clock chimes bursting from the percussion, etc, were so powerful and beautiful that this music became deeply embedded in my memory. In this way, by shattering the waltz form, Prokofiev completes the psychological shift from dream to nightmare.

Around the time I began considering how to express this music visually as a series, I came across an interesting study on this music which rationally categorized its characteristics into twelve elements, linking them to the twelve chimes of midnight. I was immediately able to understand this idea in depth.

While it remains not confirmed whether Prokofiev’s actual intentions aligned with this theroy, the study undeniably provided intriguing ideas for my work.

Within this work, twelve elongated rectangular prisms, each asserting its own distinct individuality, symbolize twelve specific characteristics of music while simultaneously representing the twelve o’clock, and bound together, they converge to form a new harmony.

This piece is part of a series created since 2020 that translates my conceptual understanding into a visual language. To me, this music serves as the most profound embodiment of Prokofiev’s musical essence.