Shibata Takaaki - The World of Unaccompanied Mandolin - Japan 2 CD

Credits:

Shibata Takaaki

Contents Disc 1] Works up to the first half of the 20th century Passacaglia in G minor (H.I.F. Beaver) Partita No. 1 in D minor (F. Sauli) Partita for unaccompanied flute in A minor BWV1013 (J.S.Bach) Aria and Variations No. 7 (G. Leone) Love Song (C. Meunier) Scherzo Exercise in D minor (G.S. Milanesi) Prelude No. 10 (R. Carrache) Cradle (Tsunehiko Tanaka) Disc 2] Japan since the Latter Half of the 20th Century Quill(Dai Fujikura) Four Preludes (Kenichi Nishizawa) Sokyu (Kazuyuki Taguchi) Light leaks (Kousa Hashizume) Indestructible Motion (Yasuo Kuwahara) Fragment (Kaito Nakahori) Unknown World Akiko Yamane) The Moon and Yamamba (Kuwabara Yasuo) Oboro Tsukiyo (Teiichi Okano/Ippo Tsuboi) Performers Takaaki Shibata (Mandolin) The culmination of a concert series exploring new horizons in unaccompanied mandolin music, with new works by six up-and-coming Japanese composers added to the repertoire, and a rich two-disc set that looks through about 300 years of mandolin music history. This project, "The World of Unaccompanied Mandolin," will be launched in the wake of the 2020 Corona Disaster. At that time, we were living with various inconveniences. Social contacts were restricted and cultural activities in general were suppressed as "unnecessary" and "hasty. The conclusion I reached was to play the "unaccompanied mandolin. I decided to commission six Japanese composers to create works for unaccompanied mandolin, and to premiere two commissioned works at my annual recital in April each year for three years starting in 2021. We intended to make a new plan depending on the situation during the three-year period. As a result, in Japan, the disease was moved to Category 5 under the Infectious Disease Control Law in May 2023, and measures such as behavioral restrictions are no longer in place. In the world of contemporary music, we are seeing performances such as "premiere of the entire program," and six pieces is a lonely number from the perspective of acquiring new repertoire. I believe that what the mandolin needs now is to be properly understood as well as to acquire new repertoire.Every instrument has its own culture, not only in terms of tone and playing characteristics, but also in terms of the way it has been cherished and nurtured by its many lovers over the centuries. The beautiful repertoire of the mandolin's culture created in the past is not well known today. It is essential that this culture be properly understood if the mandolin is to become an important part of the musical experience in the future. The mandolin has been in the unaccompanied repertoire for nearly 300 years. There are only a few CDs and performances of unaccompanied mandolin works in the world, but works covering a wide range of styles and eras are even rarer. ---Takaaki Shibata (Rats Pack Records)