Gardens

Description

Encouraged by Klaus Huber, with whom he trained in the early 1980s, to delve deeper into his Japanese musical roots, Toshio Hosokawa develops a body of work that draws from both Western tradition (Bach, Beethoven, Nono, Lachenmann…) and traditional Japanese art music. In fact, it is from gagaku, the ancient court music, that the composer draws inspiration for Im Frühlingsgarten, commissioned as part of a program of waltzes and polkas. Dedicated to Luigi Gaggero, who premiered it in 2014, Nachtmusik is his first piece for cymbalum, where he exploits all the charm of this struck string instrument, sometimes referred to as the "Gypsy piano." The album is called Gardens, referencing Hosokawa's interest, as the grandson of a master of Ikebana, the ancestral Japanese floral art, in nature in general and gardens in particular, as he proclaims: "nature belongs to me because I am also part of nature." Drawning, inspired by an amniotic dream, creates an intriguing, almost conspiratorial atmosphere that begins and ends in the empty acoustics of silence - like a flower blooming, then dying. Calm, almost contemplative, Singing Garden moves with crescendos and diminuendos, in the rhythm of an intensely corporeal breath. Voyage V is part of a series for ensemble and soloist - here, the flute: piccolo, flute, alto, and bass; ten pieces to date - where the soloist represents humanity and the orchestra represents its environment, nature - the former living in congruence with the latter. Impressive. (Bernard Vincken)