Takahiro Yoshikawas Debussy

Takahiro Yoshikawa’s Debussy

Takahiro Yoshikawa is a piano player from Nishinomiya, Japan who released last year (2017) on the Ypsilon International label a very standard Debussy program: the Bergamasque, Estampes, both books of Images. But the playing is unique for the repertoire. And very enjoyable to my ear, not only for its novelty, which is remarkable, but too many players, to the point of stereotype, seem to have a built-in aversion to pairing Debussy with clarity. Not so Mr Yoshikawa. The playing has all the loveliness it needs without automatic over-pedaling. I cannot think of anyone other than, perhaps on occasion, Gieseking, possibly Michelangeli, with anything like a similar approach. And lest anyone think perhaps his foot is broken, he can certainly depress the sustain: cf. Estampes, though, to repeat, appropriately and without heaviness. Rather than trying to impress with the evenness of harmonic arpeggiation, the ending of Pagodes is slowed and articulated, bringing a whole new sense of attention to the coda. Additionally, while I enjoy a whirlwind tempo in Debussy as much as the next guy, it’s not always necessary. The Passapied here, for example, is played with delicacy and restraint which, paradoxically, gives it power and strength. I won’t go into an analysis of each work, but overall simply to say it is worth many listens and a wide audience. I’ll provide the former and hope for a more perfect world that makes possible the latter.

Silas Bassa

I’ve had the album *Dualità* in my queue for some months but just getting around to listening to it, in part. The playing is not particularly distinguished or distinctive, but it’s listenable enough. What makes the album worth putting on the table, perhaps, is the programming. It’s fragmented, to be sure, opening with a mere movement from the Messiaen vingt regards, multiple interjections of the player’s own work, multiple iterations of Glass etudes, and so forth. In other words, with the exception of a complete offering by Gorecki, a potpourri. He seems to have done much the same with his first album, Oscillations. So that’s fine, it all hangs together well enough. And the serviceable playing doesn’t get in the way of the umbrella idea which is… what exactly? I don’t know. The duality idea means something, possibly. A clue to the intellectual project. There is a brief verbal monologue about midway through the program spoken by a woman (Nita Klein) in French. It is titled “le gibet” and precedes Ravel’s famous work of the same name. But I find no answers here. Instead, presumably the preface to a concert recital of these same pieces (minus the monologue), Mr Bassa tells us:

« Dualitá » est la fusion de 17 pièces, dont cinq de ma composition, nées d’une seule énergie créant l’unité. Inspiré de mon premier album « Oscillations »,  j’ai souhaité explorer ma nature créative face à la dissonance des éléments opposés et complémentaires qui représentent la dualité.

« Le regard du Père » d’Olivier Messiaen ouvre ce concert. Le Thème de Dieu place l’homme face à l’immensité de l’univers et aux questions que l’inconnu provoque en lui ; « Kleinstücke »,  ma première composition, essaie d’y répondre. « Santa Fe » nous surprend avec son mouvement circulaire qui oscille entre l’inquiétude  de l’être et son désir ; la vie se met en marche. La sonate de Gorecki, œuvre centrale d’une frénésie éclatante, installe la division et la lutte des contraires qui se métamorphose en chaos.

Le Gibet, extrait de « Gaspard de la nuit » de Maurice Ravel (inspiré par le poème d’Aloysius Bertrand), ouvre la deuxième partie du disque avec le thème de la mort. C’est dans ce désespoir  qu’arrive « Réminiscence », comme une réconciliation entre l’ombre et la lumière.  Une sérénité inquiétante encore traversée par l’effroi se déploie dans « Eternità ».

Ma dernière composition « Into the rush », exprime avec espoir et force les états d’âme vécus jusqu’à maintenant et la perpétuelle recherche d’un équilibre pour atteindre la non-dualité qui demeure en nous : notre vraie nature.

So the big idea is unity, fusion. OK. There you go.

Hi - Dangerous Liaisons may be one of Uma's most acclaimed and popular films, but its only a middling entertainment for me.

Each to their own.

I suppose Scriabin’s 4th piano sonata is my favorite from the set, if you can call it a set, yes why not let’s call it a set. This fellow, Roman Rofalski, takes a fragment of the main tune and lets fly with his trio. Enjoy.

Latest Quora answer

There should be, and no doubt is, a way to automatically have something from Quora post on Tumblr, but I haven’t figured out how to do it. So this was the question:

What other pianists are there who play Bach similarly to Gould? I.e. quite detached and rhythmic (no rubato)

And this was my answer:

No one plays similarly to Gould, so let’s clear that up straightaway — if by “similarly to Gould” you mean with a combination of swinging musicality and keen precision unlike anyone on the world stage before him (with the possible exception of his teacher, Alberto Guerrero). I’d dispute your “no rubato” idea, but I’ll take it as shorthand for his unprecedented attention to rhythmic detail.

However, there is one guy out there who plays with a /much more/ pronounced detaché and accent: the Finnish player (and former student of the great Ralf Gothóni): **Olli Mustonen**. There is no one who plays like him either! He’s got a fair lot of Bach in his rep, so you can get a sense of the differences (or similarities, if you like) between him and Gould. I don’t think of it that way, personally, but simply and needlessly to say I like them both very, very much. If you haven’t heard him, I encourage you to do so.

Social networks give you the right to speak to legions of idiots who previously spoke only in the bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community. They were then quickly silenced, but now have the same right to speak as to a Nobel Prize. It is an invasion of imbeciles. 

- Umberto Eco