Asia Piano avantgarde - Japan Vol. 2

KEIJIRO SATOH (1927-2009): Calligraphy, YOJI YUASA (b.1929): Projection Esemplastic, TORU TAKEMITSU (1930-1996): For away, Raintree Sketch II, SEIICHI INAGAKI (1935-2003): Piano Piece III “Enkeh”, TOSHIO HOSOKAWA (b.1955): Mai - Old Japanese Dance Music, “Haiku” for Pierre Boulez, Melodia II.

Description: Two categories of music in this varied recital; works by two relatively familiar Japanese composers that don't really qualify as 'avant garde', and pieces by unfamiliar names, that do. Satoh's Calligraphy suggests the bold strokes and points of Japanese brush penmanship, highly detailed, standing out starkly against the white page with unconnected, abrupt gestures. Inagaki's "Enkeh" incorporates extended techniques - mostly direct contact on the strings, or muffled muted effects - which coalesce into a tumult of notes and chords, like a storm breaking over a desert landscape. Yuasa's work is a 'kit' of predetermined material to be assembled into a composition by the performer as collaborative composer, not as improvisor. The construction instructions are precise; the materials diverse - chords, gestures, notes, and a considerable amount of extended playing. Hosokawa's pieces vary between a kind of atonal impressionism in the early Melodia II, abrupt contrasting gestures in Haiku, a tribute to Boulez, and a rather surprising rhythmic beat as of a Nô theatre drum, with a quasi-flute melody. Takemitsu evokes suble, delicate landscapes with pedal washes and Messiaenic sonorities and colored chords. Steffen Schleiermacher (piano).