{"id":4683,"date":"2012-10-04T19:11:43","date_gmt":"2012-10-04T18:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=4683"},"modified":"2012-10-04T19:16:35","modified_gmt":"2012-10-04T18:16:35","slug":"cd-review-fanfare-magazine-on-spring-sounds-spring-seas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2012\/10\/04\/cd-review-fanfare-magazine-on-spring-sounds-spring-seas\/","title":{"rendered":"CD Review- Fanfare Magazine on “Spring Sounds, Spring Seas”"},"content":{"rendered":"

FANFARE MAGAZINE<\/strong>
\nNOVEMBER \/ DECEMBER 2012
\nSCHLEFER Haru no Umi Redux and Shakuhachi Concerto
\nHAGEN Koto Concerto: Genji
\nORCHESTRA OF THE SWAN<\/p>\n

Click here to listen<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

David Curtis and Kenneth Woods, conductors
\nJames Nyoraku Schlefer, shakuhachi
\nYumi Kurosawa, 20-string koto
\nMSR 1429 (64:24)<\/p>\n

Despite his Brooklyn origins, James Nyoraku Schlefer is a Grand Master of the shakuhachi (one of only a small number of non-Japanese to hold that title). He studied in Japan and New York. Schlefer\u2019s Haru no Umi Redux (2011) is his own take on a Japanese shakuhachi and koto duo of that name composed in 1929 by koto master Michiyo Miyago. The opening phrases, in Japan, now denote the New Year\u2019s holiday. Schlefer adds his own material before the opening (and at its reprise). It is a delightful piece, and it certainly sounds as though the Swan Orchestra enjoyed playing it. The recording is topflight.<\/p>\n

Once one has heard the plangent, evocative sound of a shakuhachi, it is not easily forgotten. Schlefer\u2019s Shakuhachi Concerto begins in decidedly Debussian fashion (it is marked \u201cHazy awareness,\u201d which certainly implies an Impressionist basis). Scored for solo shakuhachi, strings, harp, and percussion, it boasts a long, slow first movement. The mix of West and East is impressively managed in terms of musical language: Schlefer will begin a melody in decidedly occidental manner before adding an orientalist twist as the theme progresses. The second movement, \u201cCrystal Solitude,\u201d does not quite convey the yearning, lonely quality this instrument is normally associated with, despite beginning with a solo cadenza for the solo instrument, but it is atmospheric nonetheless, and the idea of a loss of solid pulse continues throughout most of the rest of the movement. The finale, a rondo, moves the goalposts substantially, juxtaposing varied, rhythmic sections against the delicacy of the preceding two movements. The Swan Orchestra comes into its own here; Schlefer is a fine player throughout, and his own best advocate. This is memorable music in fine performances.<\/p>\n

Daron Hagen\u2019s operas have served him in good stead when it comes to his Koto Concerto, \u201cGenji\u201d (2011). The \u201cGenji\u201d title refers to the 11th-century Tale of Genji. The music is certainly descriptive of the five scenes it seeks to depict from Genji\u2019s life (Genji was son of the Emperor, relegated to commoner status). His adventures are described in the story; Hagen takes five scenes and explores them as psychological situations. The first movement, \u201cCicada Shell,\u201d seems to speak more of film music than opera, though. The solo violin (accompanied by koto) that opens the second movement, \u201cFalling Flowers,\u201d seems strangely to refer to Rimsky\u2019s Scheherazade. The \u201cMaiden on the Bridge\u201d speaks of oriental delicacy and is superbly played by the soloist, Yumi Kurosawa, while \u201cFloating Bridge of Dreams\u201d is a more virtuoso affair (for both soloist and orchestra).
\n-Colin Clarke<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in Issue 36:2 (Nov\/Dec 2012) of Fanfare
\nMagazine.
\nCLICK HERE TO PURCHASE<\/a><\/p>\n