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Japanese Band Repertoire Volume 2 KOCD-2902
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Three discs from Kosei Publishing Company and two from Brain give a good overview of contemporary Japanese wind band music. The Kosei publications have good notes on the pieces and composers by Toshio Akiyama in Japanese and English, while the Brain records give information about four other discs, unfortunately only in Japanese.
Many Japanese composers have a virtuosic command of wind band scoring, and this is matched by the excellent playing on these discs. The influences are clearly from France, especially from the impressionists, and from America particularly in works which echo the big band idiom. Every so often, a composer will use traditional Japanese musical elements fused with Western influences, and the results are sometimes very striking.
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To my ears, the strongest disc is Volume 2 of the Kosei set; all six works in this anthology will repay exploration. Ito’s Gloriosa is already established in the international repertoire, there are wonderful impressionistic sounds in the Ishihara and Hoshina, the full version of the Ohguri has tremendous energy, as does the opening Marrch and the little “Parade” movements with their homage to Americana. Glory of Catalonia is an attractive march with some unusual phrasings,
interesting harmonic changes which have a feel of eastern Europe, and
a charming bagpipe middle section with an organum effect in the upper
woodwind. This march is well worth playing. Movement for Wind Orchestra no 2 is a scenic tonepoem evoking the African savanna. A wonderfully evocative impressionistic introduction, all too short, gives way to Japanese drumming under a filmic passage, with glissandi roars and a fascinating use of wild harmonies. A slower section repeats an eight beat phrase time and time again under different orchestrations and harmonies. I can remember thinking on first hearing that this was too long, but the simplicity and repetition of this passage has a certain strength which in live performances would make a bigger impact, especially with today’s interest in minimalism. There is a return to the shimmering of the introduction and the piece ends as it began. The impressionistic palette of Ravel and Debussy is present also in the Deux Paysages Sonores, both in the wonderful orchestration and also the snatches of melody which burst forth. Derivative it might be, but it is also very effective in its use of the colours of the wind band. The Fantasy on Osaka Folk Tunes was originally commissioned for symphony
orchestra by the conductor Takashi Asahina and was premiered by the Berlin
Philharmonic Orchestra in 1956. Ohguri transcribed the work for wind band
for the Osaka Municipal Symphonic Band in 1974; the version on this recording
is of the whole work, but it is better known in the shortern version,
used frequently for band contests, and published by Concert Works Unlimited
(Shawnee). No mere stringing together of folk tunes, this is a full-blown
free fantasy with tremendous energy underlying all of the material. I
wish this were readily available in the west in its full version. Hiroshi Aoshima describes his Parade as a “theatrical piece, accompanied
by dance”. It has the wit of so much American band music of the 70’s
and 80’s, owing much to the Big Band idiom, with nods to Copland
and Bernstein. Ito’s Symphonic Poem has a wonderful programme of the “hidden Christians” of Kyushu who through the centuries continued to practice their faith, combining their use of Gregorian chant with their native modal melodies. The first movement is a set of free variations on the opening sung plainsong. The second, Cantus, opens with a solo passage for ryuketi, a Japanese type of flute, played with many glissando inflections, and the third, Dies Festus, is based on a folksong from Nagasaki. |
Japanese Band Repertoire Volume 2
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Of the music on Volume 3, for me the outstanding work is
Stars Atlanpic ’96 by Akira Miysohi, written for Emory University in Atlanta
and premiered in 1991 in a Celebration of Japanese and American music. Its title
reflects the selection of Atlanta as the Olympic site for 1996, and the three
movements evoke the spirit of youth and fellowship. Encounter has enormous energy,
Joy and Sorrow is more reflective and introvert, a lyrical scena of considerable
beauty in an idiom which derives in part from the composer’s study in Paris
with Dutilleux. Celebration is another energetic movement, built on a snappy
dance phrase. Miyoshi has a virtuoso approach to the wind band, his musical
ideas are far from hackneyed or clichéd, and his music never overstays
its welcome. I think that his is one of the most exciting voices in contemporary
Japanese music.
On the same disc, the Timber of Dendrocosmos by Ken Ito combines voices and
instruments in the manner of the traditional bugaku instrumental and roei vocal
music of ancient Japan. Interesting though the sounds are, there is not for
me enough contrast of material, but I would be interested in hearing more music
by this original voice.
There are a number of works with impressive gestures which are not sustained; all too often I find that either the idioms used are too diffuse, or that the music lapses into sentimentality. On the Brain discs, I enjoyed the somewhat wistful idiom of Morning Stars by Ejii Suzuki, useful as a 5 minute little idyll, and the Sinfonia for Band by Masahiro Yamauchi has tremendous energy in its 5/8 section. Akira Toda’s “and all on the earth had gone” starts and ends with a similar energy.
I have enjoyed repertoire at WASBE Conferences from Japan, and I hope that we in the West will seek out more and more of this very original music to add colour to our programmes.
T.R. - WASBE President