Bach Variations Godlberg The Art Of Koto

Description

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750): Goldberg Variations BWV 988 / All arrangements for koto & koto bass: Mieko Miyazaki Mieko Miyazaki invites us to discover her version of the Goldberg Variations on the KOTO! An artistic achievement of the highest level by an exceptional performer. A fantastic CD that proves Bach's music is timeless and obviously multicultural. “While I was intensely practicing the koto to enter the Conservatory in Japan, I discovered, on my father's recommendation, the recording of the Goldberg Variations made by Glenn Gould in 1981. This album, which fascinated the entire world, had a considerable impact on the high school student I was. Studying traditional music in Tokyo, I also enjoyed 'techno' and 'bossa nova.' At that time, I made a copy of the CD onto a cassette, which I listened to day and night. This virtuosic and poetic music inspired me to dream of playing it one day on my instrument. In transcribing the score for piano, I had to adapt music composed for an 88-key keyboard requiring the use of both hands, for an instrument played with three fingers on 13 strings. It is therefore virtually impossible to play all the sounds of the original score. Furthermore, when the tuning of the Koto, traditionally based on a pentatonic scale, is brought to a diatonic scale, the range is thus reduced to an octave and a half, which creates a significant lack in the low and high tessituras. The particular technique of the koto, which involves using the left hand to press on the strings to raise the note by a half step, makes it inevitable that in any transcription for koto, some sounds from the original text will be missing. It should be noted that compositions for this instrument are traditionally based on 13 notes... Determined, despite this difficulty, to experience the Goldberg Variations solo, I began in 2002 to transcribe the first variations. After what seemed to be an endless process of research and trials, I completed the transcription of the entire work 15 years later. The great blind master Yatsuhashi Kengyo created the koto style that currently exists in Japan, a style that has been passed down from generation to generation since the 8th century; the year 1685, marked by the death of Yatsuhashi, is also the year of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. I have always felt something profound in this coincidence.” Mieko Miyazaki