Yoichi Takabayashi

A young swordsman, Yoichi and his father live on a mountain, training for his descent from the mountain. One day, Yoichi travels to the city to move in with four beautiful sisters. A new, more severe "training" regiment awaits him.

A young swordsman, Yoichi and his father live on a mountain, training for his descent from the mountain. One day, Yoichi travels to the city to move in with four beautiful sisters. A new, more severe "training" regiment awaits him.

For this EWE release, Yoichi created original compositions which bring everything we’ve come to expect and love from the great jazz orchestras. It is a collage of colors, moods, and bridges the vast continents of the musical world. From playing to writing, there is no let-up start to finish. Brilliance and virtuosity is the rule and he sets a high standard.

Yoichi Murata has achieved the difficult task of reinventing the most popular jazz standards and making them his own. The writing is significant and broad, and he has changed the way we think about these songs. The playing also matches the creativity of the writing. A long history of the great Gil Evans looms large over these pieces and brings back memories to all who know and love that musical heritage.

A generous and carefully crafted two-CD set of world-premiere recordings of music by the trailblazing Japanese composer-pianist Yuji Takahashi (b. 1938), compiled and directed by fellow composer and renowned conductor Yoichi Sugiyama, who conceived this project and assembled the musicians involved.Yuji Takahashi is a hugely influential figure who in the 20th century collaborated as pianist and composer with the likes of Xenakis, Boulez, John Cage and Lukas Foss, bringing these Western avant-garde influences into the realm of Japanese music, often combining them with more traditional Eastern styles. Yet many of the musical materials and recordings of Takahashi's works were lost, so years of research were needed to find these scores. At last, 'Kagahi', from which this album takes its name, was rediscovered in the New York Public Library, and 'Prajna Paramita' and 'Nikite' at the home of his sister, the pianist Aki Takahashi. Yoichi Sugiyama also asked Yoshiaki Onishi and Katsuki Tochio to create new materials for these performances.

Boxset contains three masterpieces of the video poet Yōichi Higashi. His 1992 The River With No Bridge ("Hashi no nai kawa") about the controversial issue of the Burakumin people received numerous awards in Japan. His film The Village of dreams ("E no naka no boku no mura") won him international acclaim: awarded in more than 20 film festivals among which the Silver Bear at the 1996 Berlin Film Festival, and the Grand Prix at the Ghent and Amiens Festivals, it was successfully released in many countries including France and the USA. The Crossing ("Boku no ojisan") is an engaging, discreetly philosophical but over-elusive pic that too often slips like sand through your fingers.

Nota editorial: La cuarta serie, Golden 23 nos mostraba cómo una selección japonesa sin Tsubasa, Hyuga, Aoi o Akai (los jugadores que juegan fuera de Japón a excepción de Genzo) lograban conseguir la clasificación para las olimpiadas de Madrid (chúpate esa Gallardón).