Akutagawa: Ellora Symphony / Trinita Sinfonica / Rhapsody

Regular: £11.49

Sale: £11.49
Regular

Out of Stock

Unit Price: per

Cat No: 8555975

Release Date: 01 May 2005

Label: Naxos / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313597529

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: AKUTAGAWA

Description
Yasushi Akutagawa (1925-1989)Rapsodia per orchestra Ellora Symphony Trinita SinfonicaAfter over two hundred years of isolationism, Japanopened its door to foreign countries in the 1850s andrapidly promoted modernisation, which covered almostall fields, including a complete reform of the Japanesestyles and vocabulary to conform to translations fromOccidental languages. This movement gave birth to newstyles of Japanese literature, in which the new Japaneselanguage was used under the influence of Occidentalliterature. One of the leading figures of the trend wasRyunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927), who is wellknown for his short stories, which were based onancient Japanese fables, rewritten for modern readers.His short story Yabu no naka (In the Bush) was filmedby Akira Kurosawa, under the title Rashomon, one ofthe classics of Japanese cinema. Ryunosuke killedhimself while still in his thirties, leaving a note of hisfeeling of 'vague anxiety about the future' of himselfand of Japan. This incident marked the beginning of theDepression and the war, and is still remembered bymany Japanese people.Ryunosuke, who was born and bred in Tokyo, hadthree sons. The oldest son Hiroshi became a great actorof Shingeki, a new theatrical group born in the processof westernization, famous for his Hamlet andappearances in many films, including Kurosawa'sDodesukaden and Nagisa Oshima's Night and Fog ofJapan. The second son Takashi was killed in Burmaduring World War II. The youngest son Yasushi, whowas only two years old at his father's suicide, became acomposer. As a child, Yasushi listened eagerly to hisfather's collection of records, and particularly lovedStravinsky's L'Oiseau de feu and Petrushka. He startedstudying the violin and during his days at the AnnexedHigh School of Tokyo Higher Normal School (nowTsukuba University) decided to become a composer. Hestarted piano lessons before entering Tokyo MusicSchool (now the Music Department of TokyoUniversity of Fine Arts and Music) in 1943, in the war.His first teachers there were Hermut Fellmer, who wasinvited from Germany, Qunihico Hashimoto, who hadstudied with Egon Wellesz in Vienna, MidoriHosokawa, who had been a pupil of Franz Schmidt inVienna, and Kan'ichi Shimofusa, who studied underHindemith in Berlin. Akutagawa had particular affinitywith Hashimoto, a lyrical, urbane melodist, whosequalities Akutagawa shared. Towards the end of thewar, when educational possibilities were limited,Akutagawa was sent to the army band with many otherstudents and saw the end of the war there in the summerof 1945. He returned to the school and studied withAkira Ifukube, who joined the faculty after the war and,having spent his early years in a remote region in thenorthern part of Japan, had an idiosyncraticcompositional style based on ostinato made up of briefmotifs. The lessons with Ifukube were blessings toAkutagawa, as he was strongly influenced byStravinsky in his childhood.After graduation in 1947, Akutagawa made hismark as a com
Tracklisting