Historical Performance Practice in Electroacoustic Music through Restoring Lost Media ― "Interface Concerto" by Shigenobu Nakamura as a Case Study

This paper discusses a case study of Japanese electroacoustic music that has become technologically obsolete and consequently unperformable in the present day. While Japan produced numerous electronic and electroacoustic works throughout the late twentieth century, the majority of these compositions face significant challenges in being realized with contemporary technologies. This difficulty arises largely because the majority of works were not systematically archived or professionally managed, resulting in the obsolescence and disappearance of the specialized hardware and software on which they depended.

In response to this situation, the author has undertaken a project dedicated to the restoration of such unperformable compositions. As a case study of this project, this paper focuses on the restoration of Shigenobu Nakamura’s (中村滋延, 1950–) “Interface Concerto” for Keyboard and MIDI System (1992). This work originally employed custom-developed MIDI devices, specialized sound modules, and composition software. Since none of these tools remains operational as of 2025, “Interface Concerto” effectively became a lost work. The present study aims to re-establish its performability by analyzing the composition, with particular attention to its use of now-outdated MIDI technology, and by detailing the restoration process through which it has been revived.

Additionally, through the contemporary restoration attempt of “Interface Concerto”, this paper will explore the definition of “restoration”, departing from debates surrounding historically informed performance practices. In response to the EMS 2025 theme of “Electroacoustic Music as Interdisciplinary Practices”, it begins from the field of historically informed performance in early music – often regarded as antithetical to electroacoustic music – and anticipates pathways toward future interdisciplinary discussions across diverse domains.