Japanese music

[JimL]

I very much enjoy many woks by Japanese composers...

Woks are used in cooking Chinese food, Tobias.""

[eschiss1]

it does in these things to be tempura-te, JimL! (Sorry. Sorry. (Not sorry enough...)) Ok, ok...
Anyhow.
Promise I will have something substantial to add in a moment...
Have all of Shin-Ichiro Ikebe's (born 9/15/1943, Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan) symphonies been recorded commercially? I forget. I think several of them (at least nos. 3 and 5?) have. I've heard one of them- quite a few times in the last decade, I think (got it on tape, lost tape, got it again in email, I think) and quite liked it.

[Sicmu]

Have all of Shin-Ichiro Ikebe's (born 9/15/1943, Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan) symphonies been recorded commercially? I forget. I think several of them (at least nos. 3 and 5?) have. I've heard one of them- quite a few times in the last decade, I think (got it on tape, lost tape, got it again in email, I think) and quite liked it.

I have Ikebe's symphony no.1,3,5 and 6 but I don't know about the others.

[lechner1110]

  Symphony no.2,4,7 is available from Amazon.co.jp

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%9C%A8%E3%81%AB%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E3%81%8F-%E6%B1%A0%E8%BE%BA%E6%99%8B%E4%B8%80%E9%83%8E-%E7%AE%A1%E5%BC%A6%E6%A5%BD%E4%BD%9C%E5%93%81%E9%9B%86-%E4%B8%8B%E9%87%8E%E7%AB%9C%E4%B9%9F-%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E3%83%95%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AB%E3%83%8F%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A2%E3%83%8B%E3%83%BC%E4%BA%A4%E9%9F%BF%E6%A5%BD%E5%9B%A3%E4%BB%96/dp/B0001J0DDE

  http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%82%B2%E3%81%97%E3%81%BF%E3%81%AE%E6%A3%AE%EF%BD%9E-%E6%B1%A0%E8%BE%BA%E6%99%8B%E4%B8%80%E9%83%8E-%E4%BA%A4%E9%9F%BF%E6%9B%B2/dp/B00005HRXV


  A.S
 

[eschiss1]

Oh, I knew the name Otaka sounded familiar... the conductor is the composer's 2nd son, you mention
(Besides his estimable commercial recording career, he also has made some broadcast-only recordings I hope to hear, including a rare outing, over BBC 3, for Myaskovsky's 13th symphony when there was still no commercial recording available, and at the time I think no other broadcast tapes except for one conducted by Rozhdestvensky. Others too. Fine conductor, from what I hear and I gather. Anyhow, thanks for!)

[lechner1110]

  Dear Sicmu

  Thank you very much for your uploads.
  Both of works painted the city and river at Kyushu area,  where far west from Tokyo.
  I traveled to Nagasaki just one year ago. This music reminds me at that time.

  Dan composed a lot of works for orchestra and chorus which painted about Japanese Cities , rivers and mountains.
  But almost of these works are unrecorded.
  I think Japanese orchestra should be perform these works.   

 

  A.S

 
   

[Mark Thomas]

Many thanks, Latvian, for the uploads of Yamada's music. What attractive works they are: the 1912 "Triumph & Peace Symphony" is very Dvorakian, whereas the two symphonic poems, from only a year later, are much more unrestrained in their mixture of Debussy and Strauss. Good stuff.

[lechner1110]

  Thanks for Yamada's music, Latvian.

  This symphony is first symphony in my country.
  He composed this symphony in he studied music in Germany. So this symphony written in Germany romantic music style.
 
  Yamada stopped at Russia on the way back to Japan.
  And he was very impressed by Scriabin's music.
  So two symphonic poems filled with mysterious mood like mixture of impressionistic and late romantic music.
 
 
 

[Latvian]

You're welcome, Atsushi and Mark!

[lechner1110]

  Many people in my country usually imagine Yamada is ' Children song composer '.
  Because, we learn his songs in primary school.  So I was surprised when I knew Yamada composed huge symphonic and chamber music.
  Unfortunately, many his symphonic musics are not unrecorded    

  For example   Symphony ' Praise to Showa '
                        Nagauta symphony no.1 and no.2
                        Ballet  ' Young Centaur and Nimph '
                        Ballet  ' Dance of Salome  '

                        and many many Ballet musics...

  Very interesting...

[eschiss1]

his F major symphony does exist in another recording on Naxos which was well-received in Fanfare magazine when it came out a few years ago here, I remember. Thanks!

[Dundonnell]

There are actually two Naxos cds of Yamada's music.

The first includes the Symphony "Triumph and Peace", the Symphonic Poem "The Dark Gate", the Symphonic Poem "Madara No Hana" and the Overture in D Major. The second includes the Nagauta Symphony "Tsurukame", the Sinfonia "Inno Meiji" and the Choreographic Symphony "Maria Magdalena".

Both are conducted by Takuo Yuasa with the Ulster Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and thev Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

So the situation is not too bad

[Josh]

At least one Japanese children's song is even known in the US: 犬のおまわりさん, which is by 大中 恩 (I don't know how to read many names yet. Is it "Ounaka Megumi" ??, and I don't even know the character 恩 at all so I had to look it up)... who also writes "serious" music.  I don't find it so unusual that a composer who writes children's songs would be able to write appealing works in other forms, because the ability to compose a catchy melody is worth a whole lot!

I actually think that the overall greatest melodist of all time is a still-living Japanese composer: 植松 伸夫 (Uematsu Nobuo).  A great deal of his music for video games has been performed in full orchestral concerts, and recorded.  I think fans of Romantic-era music would probably like some of his game overtures, such as for Final Fantasy VI, and some of his solo piano works are terrific.  He seems to have a real knack for writing extremely catchy piano rags:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HizdlmU0wwE

I also really like this, a nice little string quartet piece:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdHVyAaAwKQ

[Ser Amantio di Nicolao]

There are actually two Naxos cds of Yamada's music.

The first includes the Symphony "Triumph and Peace", the Symphonic Poem "The Dark Gate", the Symphonic Poem "Madara No Hana" and the Overture in D Major. The second includes the Nagauta Symphony "Tsurukame", the Sinfonia "Inno Meiji" and the Choreographic Symphony "Maria Magdalena".

Both are conducted by Takuo Yuasa with the Ulster Orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and thev Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.

So the situation is not too bad

I have to put in a plug for the Nagauta Symphony, if I may.  It's an odd work - I wouldn't have expected the mixture of instruments to work.  And yet it does, and very well...it's one of my favorite among many Naxos purchases I have made over the years.  (The other pieces, I fear, don't spring immediately to mind...)

[lechner1110]

　
　Josh, The name of 大中 恩 is ' Ohnaka Megumi ' .   He composed many popular children songs. And he composed huge choral works. 
 

  Ser Amantio di Nicolao,   Many contemporary composer in Japan composed musics made by a mix of Western Classical music and Japanese traditional music.  However, It is very interesting that my countries first symphonic composer Yamada tried to compose it.