Japanese Bach Scene - Koto Shakuhachi

 

Largo

A New Sound From The Japanese Bach Scene

New Japanese Music Movement

RCA Records VICS-1458

1969

Tadao Sawai - First Koto

Kazue Sawai - Second Koto

Hozan Yamamoto - Shakuhachi

Sadanori Nakamiure - Guitar

Tatsuro Takomoto - Bass

Takeshi Inomata - Drums

From the back cover: A New Sound From The Japanese Bach Scene

Recent years have seen scooby-doo Bach, electronically synthesized Bach, electric bass and guitar Bach, jazz piano Bach and, I suppose, virtually everything in between. Now we have something genuinely new, and something which in many ways is more appropriate to the authentic spirt of Bach than any of today's hybrids. It is a fascinating reinterpretation of Bach pieces, both large and small, mostly melodic, and performed with remarkable fidelity too the originals by Japanese instruments call the koto and shakuhachi. 

Why more appropriate? First, because both the timbre and the plectral articulation of the koto are similar to those of the cembalo (or harpsichord or clavecin) commonly used in Bach's day. Notice the instrument's effectiveness in the Bourrée, the familiar Minuet in G, the Prelude and the Gavotte.

Second, the shakuhachi, like the recorders and transverse flutes used by Bach's contemporaries, is controlled by sliding fingers and complicated cross-digital combinations; in addition, most flutists feel that wood instruments like the shakuhachi produce a mellower, more vocalized tone – one that sounds particularly impressive on lovely Bachian melodies like the Air on the G String. Note, too, tis effectiveness in the Siciliano, the Minuet in G Minor and the Largo.

Equally fascinating are the interchanges between koto, shakuhachi, an additional koto and a guitar on the light, briskly moving fugue pieces. On the Fugue from The Well-Tempered Clavier a bossa nova rhythm is added for special seasoning.

A few words about the instruments. The koto is virtually the Japanese equivalent of the piano, present in most homes and studied by most upper-class young ladies. It is a highly sophisticated instrument, with a long, wooden body that is placed on the floor in front of the performer. It has from 13 to 17 silk strings with movable bridges and is usually played with three ivory plectrums attached to the right hand. The instrument recently has become a favorite with many of Japan's young composers.

The shakuhachi, a bamboo flute, is deeply rooted in Japanese folklore and once was used as both instrument and weapon by itinerant samurai. Like the Indian shehnai, it has recently come to be accepted as a full-fledged concert hall instrument. Both are rudimentary tubes, lacking the keys and articulated mechanisms that make the Western oboe and flute into technically controllable instruments. Performing on them, especially when the musical material is, as it the case of Bach, based on the tempered intervals of Western music rather than the natural overtone pitch relationships more naturally fundamental to the instrument, is – at the very least – difficult.

The performers heard here are among Japan's finest young musicians. Tadao Sawai was born in Aichi in 1937; he is a graduate of the Tokyo University of Arts and is an outstanding contemporary composer. Hozan Yamamoto was also born in 1937; in addition to studying the instrument at the Seiryu Musical Academy, he is a graduate of the Kyoto Foreign Language Institute. Like Sawai, he is a prominent young composer and, in recent years, has become interested in jazz and popular music.

It is extremely doubtful that Johann Sebastian Bach gave much thought to Japan or its music during his busy lifetime. But one can speculate that his probing musical mind and perceptive ears would respond with delight to these new versions of his music. – Don Heckman, Contributing Editor, Stereo Review

From Billboard - August 23, 1969: Several of Bach's more familiar works are given an Oriental flavor in this charming package. Augmenting the occidental bass, guitar and drums, are a koto (harpsichord) and shakuhachi (flute) and they all blend together extremely well. It's a new sound but it should catch on easily.

Air On The G String (from Orchestral Suite No. 3)

Minuet In G (from Concerto No. 5 for Harpsichord)

Gavotte I (from English Suite No. 3)

Fugue No. 1 (from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I)

Two-Part Invention No. 1

"Little" Fugue In G Minor

Bourrée (from Partita No. 1 for Solo Violin)

Minuet In G Minor (from The Notebook For Anna Magdalena)

Prelude No. 2 (from Six Small Preludes For Beginners)

Sicilinao (from Sonata No. 2 for Flute and Harpsichord)

Two-Part Invention No. 12