Toshio Hosokawa: Meditation, Nach dem Sturm & Klage

Featuring

Jun Märkl
Susanne Elmark
Ilse Eerens
Mihoko Fujimura
Tadashi Tajima
Euskadiko Orkestra Sinfonikoa

Toshio Hosokawa

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Performer Biography

Jun Märkl, the conductor, was honored by the French Ministry of Culture with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2012 for his tenure in Lyon and his Debussy cycle.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Toshio Hosokawa, the composer, aims to express the unification of humankind and nature and their beautiful correspondence through his music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Composer Toshio Hosokawa views music as a type of shamanism, a way for people to pray, calm the spirits of the deceased, and create a bridge between this world and the afterlife.

Instruments

The shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute, is valued by Hosokawa for its primitive qualities, allowing for an expression where human breath and natural wind are unified.

Performer Biography

Tadashi Tajima is Japan's leading international shakuhachi performer, a professor in Tokyo and Osaka, and the founder of the Jikishoryu method of playing.

Historical Context

The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami profoundly impacted composer Toshio Hosokawa, reminding him of nature's terror and violence.

Compositional Technique

In his work Meditation, Hosokawa uses a cyclically beating bass drum as a cosmic pulse, with melodic lines reminiscent of Eastern calligraphy drawn by other instruments.