Ura Tmahime Jun Togawa

Songs of Solitude was conceived by the violist Hiyoli Togawa at a time when a virus was forcing people across the world into isolation and she herself needed to find a new rhythm of life as concert after concert was being cancelled. As she relates in the booklet to the disc, playing Bach – music that combines powerful emotions with a crystal-clear structure – became part of her daily routine, along with walks along the empty streets of Berlin. During these, the importance of remaining creative became even clearer to her, along with the idea to offer people the opportunity through music to reflect upon the difficulties of living through a pandemic.

Might you have a reliable original edition of Modest Mussorgsky’s «Pictures at an Exhibition» for piano, that I could borrow? The request was made by Maurice Ravel in February 1922 to his friend «Calvo», full name Michel Dimitri Calvoressi, a Marseille-born British music critic and author with Greek roots. In the letter Ravel went so far as to underline the words «édition originale de Moussorgsky». So at least as far back as Ravel we have had this problem, one that Jun Märkl is even today all too aware of: the quest for the original Mussorgsky has always been difficult. Back then, Calvo was clearly unable to help the composer. Ravel, who had been delighted to receive a commission from the conductor Serge Koussevitzky for an instrumental arrangement of the piano cycle, had to content himself with the edition published in 1886, after Mussorgsky’s death, under the aegis of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov – a version we now know to contain a number of corrections, typos and printing errors. The reasons for this can be found in the personal fate of the composer and in the well-meaning and in some cases essential retrospective editing of his oeuvre.

Prokofiev first became fascinated by the violin upon hearing the playing of his private teacher, Reinhold Glière. A dozen years later Prokofiev wrote his Violin Concerto No. 1 – a work of contrasting open-hearted lyricism and whimsical playfulness that features a wild central Scherzo with dazzling technical gymnastics. By contrast, the Violin Concerto No. 2 is emotionally reserved and sardonic with an inspired plaintive and long-arching slow movement. Composed to an official Soviet commission for an ensemble piece to be played by talented child violinists in unison, the witty and upbeat Sonata for Solo Violin can also be played by a single performer.

This CD features the versatile Fukamachi as a veritable one-man band in a lively album that captures the essence of the original Beatles' tunes throughout. The innovative arrangements of the artist, tailored to get the maximum benefit from a surrounding instrument array, produce one of the better technical efforts of this series. Synthesizer effects provide special "flavor," particularly at the close of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", and in the evocative opening of "She's Leaving Home". Fukamachi blends a concert grand, electric piano, Arp synthesizer, glockenspiel, bass drum, tambourine and other electronic instruments with results that indicate a group, not a solo, with ample display of each.

Vladimir Martynov’s Utopia Symphony is a musical tribute to Singapore from a son of the Russian avant-garde of the 1970s. Martynov skillfully combines influences from American minimalism and Russian Orthodox chant with a libretto inspired by the ancient text of the Tao Te Ching to create a sound world which seeks to reimagine the concept of utopia. This world premiere recording was made at London’s Abbey Road Studios, under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski.

For her first recording on the Linn label, Ingrid Fliter performs the two piano concertos of Frédéric Chopin with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jun Märkl, and both performances are presented in the hybrid SACD format. The multichannel treatment might seem excessive for these works, since the piano part is always clear and prominent, and the orchestration isn't dense or complicated. Even so, the myriad subtleties of dynamics, attacks, and phrasing come across with exceptional clarity and effectiveness in the state-of-the-art recording, which does a great service to Fliter and the orchestra.

Recorded at Seibu Theatre, Tokyo (June 3rd and 4th 1977). This album packs a wallop! Lots of outstanding music and playing from everyone in the group - Jun Fukamachi, Randy & Michael Brecker contributing songs from the Brecker Bros albums. The 2CD set is a must - the song Triangle Session is actually a note for note cover of John Lee & Gerry Brown's song Rise On from the recently reissued album Still Can't Say Enough that the Brecker Bros played -recommended along with the companion album Mango Sunrise! Kenji Ohmura nails the guitar on this song and the whole performance. The drummer, Martin Willweber, and bassist Kenji Takamizu are also excellent.

Various Artists - Yen Box, Vol. 2 (1996) {16CD+2xBonus CD Yen Records - ALCA-5123~5138, ALZZ-13~14}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 6.61 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 3.45 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 854 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1996 Yen Records / Alfa Music Japan / Toshiba-EMI | ALCA-5123~5138, ALZZ-13~14
New Wave / Synth Pop / Electronic / Rock / Pop / Japanese

¥・E・N Box Vol.2. With 64 pages booklet. Set released in a cardboard box. Each disc comes in a cardboard sleeve with artwork replicating the original LP covers. The inserts for each of these albums come bundled together with a paper sleeve stamped yen records. Yen Records - an imprint of Alfa Records that ran from 1982 to 1985 fronted by Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi of Yellow Magic Orchestra. Most albums were produced by Hosono or Takahashi.