A Game of Go, Part 1 of 2

The game of Go is an ancient Asian board game involving the placing of stones on the intersections of lines on a board, with the object of surrounding more territory or capturing more of the opponents stones. With elegantly simple rules, it has a depth and a multi-layered fascination which surpasses even that of Chess. My composition, A Game of Go, is a move-by-move musical setting for 2 pianos of a classic game, the sixth game of the 30 game match between Ota Yuzo and Honinbo Shusaku played in 1853 in Japan. For more information about Go, contact the American Go Assocition at For more information about Haskell Small, go to his website at I believe that Go is not just a sport or pastime, but an art of equal status to the art of music. Both Go and music are enwrapped with mystery, subtlety, and the beauty of an inevitable, ineluctable truth. Furthermore, like music, I contend that Go is capable of the expression of human emotions- Go moves can be found tha