Yoshimatsu: Cello Concerto / The Age of Birds / Chikap

Featuring

Sachio Fujioka
Peter Dixon
BBC Philharmonic
Takashi Yoshimatsu

Did you know?

1/7

Compositional Technique

Chikap, Op. 14a, by Takashi Yoshimatsu, uses 'septaphony' instead of dodecaphony, structuring time in layers and creating 'harmonic clusters' from sound points within a seven-whole-tone scale.

Performer Biography

Peter Dixon, the cellist on this recording, is the Principal Cello of the BBC Philharmonic and premiered Takashi Yoshimatsu's Cello Concerto, which was written specially for him.

Composer Biography

Takashi Yoshimatsu (b. 1953) is a Japanese composer whose works are featured on this album.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Composer Takashi Yoshimatsu's 'Bird Trilogy' works, including The Age of Birds, are inspired by the image of transparent birds looking down on humans in an artificial forest.

Compositional Technique

The Cello Concerto, Op. 91 'Centaurus Unit', is one of three works by Takashi Yoshimatsu based on mythical creatures, alongside the Guitar Concerto 'Pegasus Effect' and the Bassoon Concerto 'Unicorn Circuit'.

Composition History

The Age of Birds, Op. 25, is the final work in composer Takashi Yoshimatsu's 'Bird Trilogy' and was his first orchestral commission.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Takashi Yoshimatsu titled his Cello Concerto 'Centaurus Unit' by envisioning the cellist as the human upper body and the cello as the lower body of a brown horse, with the bow and endpin forming the mythical beast's bow and arrow.