Takashi Yoshimatsu - Symphony No. 1; Ode to Birds and Rainbow (Sachio Fujioka)

Information

Composer: Takashi Yoshimatsu

• Kamui-Chikap Symphony (Symphony No. 1), Op. 40
• Ode to Birds and Rainbow, Op. 60

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra

Sachio Fujioka, conductor

Date: 2000

Label: Chandos

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%209838

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Review

Beguilingly orchestrated music by one of Japan’s better-known composers (thanks to Chandos’s advocacy), in exemplary performances from the BBC Philharmonic

According to his booklet-note, both works on this disc have autobiographical resonances for the composer, Takashi Yoshimatsu. The symphony Kamui-Chikap (1988-90) – named after the Ainu forest god – is his rationalisation of a period of personal uncertainty, while Ode to Birds and Rainbow is a memorial (though ‘not a requiem’) to his sister, who died in 1994 and expressed a desire to be reincarnated as a bird. Yoshimatsu refers to it as an ‘ode to a soul at play’, which is all one really needs to say about it.

The Symphony is bigger and bolder; the five movements ‘parallel the five cosmic states of Creation, Conservation, Destruction, Enchantment and Release produced by the dance of the god Shiva’, corresponding to the four medieval elements of Earth – here called Ground, and it does feel in part like a passacaglia – Water, Fire and Air with a Rainbow finale. Each is highly effective in its own right and attractively orchestrated, but does it add up to a symphony? Only in part, for it does not completely pass Keller’s dictum of ‘large-scale integration of contrasts’. ‘Ground’ builds compellingly from the opening shakuhachi-like sonority, while ‘Fire’ must be great fun to watch – and play in; the percussion section certainly create mayhem as they tear through the orchestra. ‘Air’ is a beautiful Adagio but, like ‘Water’ (which sounds too much like run-of-the-mill film music for its own good), is overlong with no contrasting middle section. The opportunity ‘Rainbow’ gives to synthesize, programmatically and structurally, the character of the preceding movements – a rainbow being the product in air of water and light, a by-product, if you will, of fire – is disappointingly passed up, and the movement remains ironically earthbound. The performances and sound quality are both first-rate.'

-- Guy Rickards

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Takashi Yoshimatsu (born 18 March 1953 in Tokyo) is a Japanese composer. He studied at the Department of Technology of Keio University and taught himself composition, although he has studied under Teizo Matsumura for a short while. Yoshimatsu made his debut as a composer with Threnody to Toki in 1981. Since then, he has composed six symphonies, twelve concertos, a number of sonatas, and various shorter pieces for ensembles of various sizes, including for Japanese traditional instruments. Since 1998, Yoshimatsu has been composer-in-residence of Chandos Records and has published several albums under this label.

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Sachio Fujioka (born 8 June 1962 in Tokyo) is a Japanese conductor. He graduated from the Department of Literature of Keio University and the conducting department of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Following his debut with the BBC Philharmonic in 1993, Fujioka has since appeared with the orchestra at the BBC Proms and has also made a number of recordings for Chandos Records. He has served as Principal Conductor of the Manchester Chamber Orchestra (1995–2000), the Japan Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra (1995–2002), and the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra (since 2007).

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