Takemitsu: Toward the Sea / Miyata: Kusabue No Koro (Time of the Grass Flute)

Featuring

Susan Hoeppner
Rachel Gauk
Michio Miyagi
Teruyuki Noda
Tōru Takemitsu
Katsutoshi Nagasawa

Yoshiharu Ganryu
Yuquijiro Yocoh
Haseo Sugiyama
Ryutaro Hirota
Kōhachirō Miyata

Did you know?

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Performer Biography

Susan Hoeppner (flute) and Rachel Gauk (guitar) have collaborated as a duo since 1990, performing in Canada, the United States, England, and Japan.

Historical Context

During the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), Western music, initially military band music and Protestant hymns, was widely introduced to Japan.

Instruments

The modern shakuhachi, an end-blown bamboo flute with five finger holes, originated in the Edo period (1615-1868) and is related to the Chinese hsiao (xiao).

Composer's Artistic Vision

Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996), an influential Japanese composer, combined traditional Japanese and European classical music elements, often appreciating the natural world in his compositions.

Composer Biography

Michio Miyagi (1894-1956), a blind koto player, founded the New Japanese Music Movement (Shin Nihon Ongaku) in 1920 to integrate European music elements into Japanese instrument compositions.

Instruments

The koto, a horizontal plucked zither, developed from a court tradition in Japan and in its modern form has thirteen nylon strings and a paulownia wood body.