Takashi Yoshimatsu: Klavierkonzert op.67 "Memo Flora" on CD

Product Information

Yoshimatsu: Piano Concerto "Memo Flora"

The words "Memo Flora" were written by the poet Kenji Miyazawa on the cover of a notebook that contained diagrams for the placement of flowers (melody) in a flowerbed (score). The Piano Concerto: Memo Flora is in three movements, Flower, Petals and Bloom. It was written in 1997 and first performed in 1998 under Sachio Fujioka, and played by its dedicatee, Kyoko Tabe.

And Birds Are Still ... was written as a short elegy for string ensemble. This piece came from an image of birds gathered around a dead comrade. While an Angel Falls into a Doze... is a homage to a dark hymn heard in a clear silence. Six players, consisting of string quartet, double bass player and pianist, are flanked on either side by five string soloists like the wings of an angel.

Dream Colored Mobile I is a work for saxophone, harp and string quartet. In the winter of 1997 it was rearranged for a soloist (oboe, violin or cello) harp and strings, hence Dream Colored Mobile II. White Landscapes consists of three short pieces which describe the Japanese countryside blanketed by snow. Originally for flute, harp and bassoon, they were rearranged for flute, harp, cello and string ensemble.

Rezensionen

"...Excellent performances and sound engineering add to the beauty of this intriguing disc." The Ottawa Citizens Weekly - 10 January 1999

"The more accesible end of contemporary, composition, with congenial performances." Andy Hamilton - Classic CD - Christmas 1998

"Manchester Camerata make their debut on the Chandos label with an interesting set of works by a living Japanese composer ... the real discovery is Yoshimatsu’s While An Angel Falls Into A Doze. Written this year, it’s a remarkable peice and reveals the Camerata at their best." Robert beale - Manchester Evening News - 25 September 1998

"The style is international pastel: quiet, tonal, cool. Yoshimatsu’s concerto is delicately melodic and playful. Strongest are the elegiac And Birds Are Still, and While an Angel Falls into a Doze..., with Pärt-like textures..." Robert Maycock - BBC Music magazine - February 1999