Kazuki Yamada’s life’s work comes to life in this ambitious new album focusing on Japanese composers.
This album captures the live concert on February 9, 2024, serving as the culmination of Kazuki Yamada’s six-year tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra (2018-2024). For this milestone concert, Yamada chose Bartók’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, Takemitsu’s November Steps, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. Included on this disc are Takemitsu and Beethoven.
At 7:00 PM, the starting time of this concert, the news of Seiji Ozawa’s passing was announced, and Yamada also received the news during intermission. Before the second half began, Yamada spoke to the audience with a microphone and dedicated the Takemitsu and Beethoven works to Ozawa. November Steps is a work that Ozawa world-premiered on November 9, 1967, conducting the New York Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Second was also performed in that concert. While it seems almost too uncanny to be a mere coincidence, the news of Ozawa’s passing ultimately transformed this performance into an unforgettable, deeply sacred occasion.
The unusual tension filling the hall matched the tense acoustic of November Steps. This atmosphere sharply intensified the contrast between the cold, crystalline, monochrome resonance of Dozan Fujiwara’s shakuhachi and Kakushin Tomoyoshi’s biwa against the heated, colorful textures of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.
The Beethoven was equally extraordinary. The orchestra used a massive lineup with A 16-strength string section and doubled winds and brass. More importantly, he deployed an unconventional stereo layout that divided the strings into two groups. The powerful, sweeping waves of sound born from this arrangement form the ultimate allure of this performance.
This disc couples the main program with a live recording of Toshiro Mayuzumi’s Mandala Symphony, which was performed in January 2023 at Suntory Hall and Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall. Marking another brilliant highlight of Yamada’s six-year tenure with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, the performance offers a striking contrast between Takemitsu and Mayuzumi’s differing approaches to Eastern aesthetics. Listening continuously to the profound (yugen) sound rising from the score of November Steps and the dense, concentrated sound of Mandala Symphony, one can see that the orchestra has a truly diverse potential of expressions for works by Japanese composers. This artistic versatility was carefully cultivated through their creative partnership with Yamada, lending powerful credibility to their ongoing commitment to Japanese music.
