Commissioned by Haramachi High School Wind Band in Fukushima, Japan. The original instrumentation was 2 Bb clarinets, bass clarinet, bassoon, percussion quintet but it was rearranged in 2015 to a flute, Bb clarinet, alto saxophone trio.The year 2011 is known for the disastrous The Great East Japan Earthquake that caused many tragedies. One is the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Haramachi's campus is located within the quarantined 30 km. radius of the nuclear plant. Students were sent to different high schools to continue their education and this separation caused school club activities to discontinue. The title "Satellite" refers to this lamentable situation. Imagine the sorrow of not being able to continue your favorite club activity with your friends. The ascending whole step melody in the introduction has the image of "sending out a message to friends far away". When you perform this work, imagine a message from every student and musically send it aloft.
(Hirokazu Fukushima)
