ISOTARO SUGATA (1907-1952): Symphonic Overture, Op. 6, Peaceful Dance of Two Dragons, Op. 8, Ballet Music The Rhythm of Life, Op. 25, Dancing Girl in the Orient from Sketches of the Desert, Op. 10.

Catalogue Number: 03J008
Label: Naxos
Reference: 8.570319
Format: CD
Price: $11.98
Description: Sugata appears to have spent his entire career trying out various ways to marry traditional Japanese music with European art music, resulting in the interesting syntheses and patchworks here. Hindemith's Mathis der Maler symphony was the model for the large-scale (17-minutes) Symphonic Overture of 1939 which approaches symphonic form in its three-section form. Peaceful Dance (1940) combines Gagaku style, ancient imperial Japanese music and Stravinsky and Bartók. The Rhythm of Life (1950) is a literal patchwork, using and transforming melodies and motives from Le sacre, Petrushka and Firebird while the short excerpt from Sketches of the Desert calls up Rimsky-Korsakov, Ippolitov-Ivanov and, wait for it, Ketèlbey. Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra; Kazuhiko Komatsu.