Born in Tokyo in 1953, Takashi Yoshimatsu studied in the engineering department of Keio University. He taught himself composition and studied under Teizo Matsumura. He has played with several jazz, rock and other bands. An advocate of 'new lyricism', he decries unmusical trends in modern music. He has published many works since his debut composition in 1981, Forgetful Angel. These include two symphonies and five concertos. His orchestral pieces include Ode to Bird and Rainbow and he has composed many stage pieces, a series of chamber music works on the theme of 'birds' and pieces for piano and Japanese instruments.
Since becoming the youngest winner of the prestigious Japan Music Competition at the age of seventeen, Kyoko Tabe has captivated audiences around the world. While studying at the Hochschule der Kunste, Berlin, she won the Epinal and Schnabel Competitions, received Third Prize at the International Music. Competition ARD and a major prize in the Chopin Competition. She has performed with the Bavarian and Polish Radio Symphony Orchestras, Barcelona City Orchestra, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, San JosÈ Symphony, W¸rttemberg, Franz Liszt and Lausanne Chamber Orchestras, Manchester Camerata, Wiener Bl‰serensemble, and Japan's major orchestras. In 1997, she made her New York debut in a Weill Hall recital presented by Carnegie Hall. Kyoko Tabe currently resides in both Berlin and Tokyo.
[336x314]
Manchester Camerata is the North West's leading chamber orchestra, of which Sachio Fujioka is Principal Conductor. Its performance home is the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. The orchestra also presents concerts at Manchester's Royal Northern College of Music, Queen Elizabeth Hall in Oldham and many other venues. This regional pattern of concert commitments is the core of the orchestra's work. Manchester Camerata is a frequent guest orchestra and in recent years has appeared in the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's series, Huddersfield Choral Society's series, at Leeds and Sheffield, and overseas in France, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and Portugal.
Sachio Fujioka was born in Tokyo in 1962 and from the age of sixteen studied conducting with both Kenichiro Kobayshi and Akeo Watanabe. In 1990 he moved to the UK on taking up post-graduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where he was the first holder of the Sir Charles Groves Conducting Fellowship. Sachio Fujioka is now based in the United Kingdom where between 1992 and 1995 he was Assistant Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1996 he was appointed Principal Conductor of Manchester Camerata and he has recently undertaken a highly successful tour of Japan with this orchestra. He has conducted many of the major orchestras in the UK including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Halle Orchestra, and is also now a regular guest conductor with the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Piano Concerto 'Memo Flora'
Written as a 'Memorandum on Flowers', this Concerto for piano consists of three movements, Flower, Petals and Bloom, that are, respectively, fast, slow and fast. The words 'Memo Flora' were written by the poet Kenji Miyazawa on the cover of a notebook that contained notes for a diagram of the placement of flowers (melody) in a flowerbed (score).
I Flower - An Allegro in a pseudo-sonata form celebrating flowers blooming quietly in a spring field against a background of shifting colours. As the texture of birds, described by the woodwind draws close by, the piano sweeps through a spring storm and into a blue sky.
II Petals - A light Andante, like flower petals floating on the water. A faint song on the quietly flowing water appears and disappears like a dream of long ago.
III Bloom - The finale, in which spring speeds away from the spring field, in full bloom. A 4/8 and 5/8 rondo that dashes lightly into the distance.
The idea to compose 'a beautiful piano concerto in the same key, the same three-part form and the same double-wind arrangement as Mozart's final B flat major Concerto (No. 27 K595)' first arose in the spring of 1996. The Concerto was written between the summer and winter of 1997 and was first performed by the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra, under Sachio Fujioka on 8 February 1998. The piece is dedicated to the pianist who first performed it, Kyoko Tabe.
* And Birds Are Still...
Written as a short elegy for a string ensemble, this piece came from an image of birds gathered around a dead comrade. Originally, it was to be written as a commission for an amateur ensemble, but the commission was cancelled, and the work alone remained. This is a simple piece in the form of a short, piecemeal song that becomes a faint melody which then develops into a melancholic recollection of a memory of long ago, before blending back into its original piecemeal form, and finally fading away. It was written between the summer of 1997 and the spring of 1998, and was completed in March. It needs a minimum of twelve players (4-3-2-2-1), but can be performed by up to thirty-seven (12-9-6-6-4).
* While an Angel Falls into a Doze...
This is a homage to a dark hymn heard in a clear silence. It is carried in fragments by the wind, which quietly stirs the gold and silver bells of the spirits (angels). Commissioned by the Kamakura Arts Foundation, it was composed between the winter of 1997 and the spring of 1998 especially for the Kamakura Solisten (fifteen string soloists) and a pianist. Six players, consisting of the pianist, a double bass player and a string quartet are flanked on either side by five string soloists, like the wings of an angel.
* Dream Colored Mobile II
A single melody floats on a canon-like harp passage. Born of a dream, it describes a gentle curve, and then blends once again into a dream. Its predecessor, Dream Colored Mobile I, was composed for the saxophonist Nobuya Sugawa, for his album, Nostalgia. The original work was for saxophone, harp and string quartet. In the winter of 1997, it was rearranged for a soloist (oboe, violin or cello), harp and strings, resulting in Dream Colored Mobile II.
* White Landscapes
Inspired by snow scenes painted by the artist Soh-ichiro Tomioka, White Landscapes consists of three short pieces, Divination by Snow, Stillness in Snow and Disappearance of Snow. All describe the Japanese countryside blanketed by snow. They were produced on commission by the Tomioka-White Museum in the summer of 1991. Originally, they were for a trio of flute, harp and bassoon, but in the winter of 1997 they were arranged for flute, harp, cello and string ensemble.
Takashi Yoshimatsu
Year: 1998
Style: contemporary classical
Bitrate Preset: -V0 --vbr-new
Label: Chandos
DoWNLoAD:1 & 2
password: eye2ear