Fujioka Sachio - Akutagawa / Ifukube Prima Sinfonia / Ballet 'salome` - Japan CD

Credits:

Fujioka Sachio

Description:

[Japanese Masterpieces in Definitive Performances on CD] The first CD from Sachio Fujioka and the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra. Ifukube's Salome and Akutagawa's Symphony No. 1 in blazing performances of unprecedented intensity, presented in high-quality sound. [Preserving Japan's Masterpieces: A Project Close to Sachio Fujioka's Heart] This release grew out of the shared conviction of conductor Sachio Fujioka - whose stated aim is "to hand Japan's masterpieces on to future generations" - and the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, and of the team that rallied to support them. The recording was planned to coincide with Fujioka's appointment as the orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor in April 2019, a natural step for a conductor who has made the promotion of Japanese repertoire his life's work. [Symphony No. 1: four movements, over 30 minutes. Salome: seven movements, over 40 minutes] The Symphony No. 1 (1954/55) by Yasushi Akutagawa (1925-1989) is a landmark of Japanese composition, running to more than half an hour across four movements. It is Akutagawa's only numbered symphony; after the premiere he travelled clandestinely to the Soviet Union, where his encounters with Shostakovich, Khachaturian and many other composers led him to revise the score. Alongside its bright, buoyant allegros the work also unleashes passages of dark, weighty sonority. For this recording, the editorial materials prepared by Yuzo Toyama and Hiroaki Tokunaga - based on their study of Akutagawa's autograph manuscript - were collated to produce a definitive score. Salome by Akira Ifukube (1914-2006) was written in 1948 as ballet music and went on to receive more than a hundred performances, becoming a monument of post-war Japanese ballet. Ifukube later recast it as a concert version (1987). The subject remained a lifelong preoccupation - he even arranged it for koto in his final years - and here, in the magnificent orchestration of his seventies, the frenzied music of love and death unfolds in full. Sachio Fujioka rediscovered the score after more than twenty years in storage, and this definitive performance also draws on a study of the ballet version. Rather than an empty hall, the sessions capture the excitement of an audience gathered for a historic revival, applause and cheers included, in a high-resolution, high-fidelity recording. [A First-Rate Team Drawn Together by Fujioka's Commitment] Liner notes by Jun Kobayashi (film critic) and Hiroaki Tokunaga (composer); recording by Yoshio Ueno (lecturer, College of Art, Nihon University; member of the Japan Section of the Audio Engineering Society); assistant editing by Takuya Imahori (composer, Three Shells). Produced by Koichi Nishi. Scores kindly provided by the Ifukube family, Zen-On Music (Akutagawa) and Masumi Akutagawa (widow of Yasushi Akutagawa). (1/3)