When in Murin An / The Kyoto Connection

In the final days of our stay in Kyoto, we discovered Murin-an by chance while wandering through the city. As soon as we entered, we found ourselves immersed in one of the most beautiful landscapes of our entire journey through Japan. There, I recorded the gentle sound of water flowing through the garden. I never learned exactly where that water came from—perhaps from a distant mountain stream, perhaps from the imagination itself—but its voice stayed with me long after we left. With that sound and the emotions the garden awakened in me, I composed *When in Murin-an*, a piano piece in three movements: Solitude, Inspiration, and Encounter. These are the three feelings I experienced while sitting in that extraordinary place, and the ones I hope to express through this music. Murin-an is one of Kyoto’s most celebrated gardens, created at the end of the 19th century as the residence of statesman and visionary Aritomo Yamagata. Considered a masterpiece of modern Japanese garden design, it remains a place where nature, silence, and contemplation meet in perfect harmony. https://thekyotoconnection.com