Kyomono Series Vol 1 Matsuura Kengyo - NY Sankyoku Kai

"Henry Horaku Burnett - Sangen and Vocal. Keiko Kanogawa - Koto. Contains the compositions "Wakana" and "Sato No Akatsuki". This is available on LP (yes vinyl!) and cassette only."

Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin
Hogaku Society Records - HS 101

Pista	Título	Kanji	Longitud	Artista
1	Wakana	若葉	20'44	Shakuhachi: Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin Koto: Kanogawa Keiko Shamisen: Henry Horaku Burnett Voz: Henry Horaku Burnett
	The text of Wakana depicts a young maiden going out into the spring field to gather young plants or herbs for the Imperial Kitchen that, on a certain day in early spring, the herbs were to be picked and made into a hot soup, which was then drunk with great ceremony to prevent illness in the coming year. Matsuura's musical setting conveys an overall feeling of the gentleness and serenity of springtime. It is this aspect of the piece, so beautifully portrayed in the music, that has made Wakana one of the most cherished compositions in the repertoire today. Maeuta: The New Year has begun. Though but a few days have passed, Already, this morning, the spring wind Blows softly through the bamboo grass. Knowing that his season has arrived, The nightingale plumes himself: With great joy he takes wing, and sings. A young maiden would accompany him With a prayer for eternal blessings on her lips, She sets forth to gather wakana, The first herbs of spring. Ato uta: Seeing her gentle touch, As she picks the young herbs, Myriads of birds, chirping away among the plum blossoms, Grow yet more animated. How the color of the petals, And the voices of the birds, Blend auspiciously together!
2	Sato no Akatsuki	里の暁	18'40	Shakuhachi: Ronnie Nyogetsu Reishin Seldin Koto: Kanogawa Keiko Shamisen: Henry Horaku Burnett Voz: Henry Horaku Burnett
	The verses of Sato no Akatsuki, on the other hand, are rather unusual, and considered by some to be inauspicious, owing to the reference to a disagreeable odor: "rank and stale, the lingering smoke. It was composed for memorial services held by the Mitsui family of Kyoto, patrons of Matsuura. Interestingly, the lines of the mea- and atop-uta sections are divided precisely at the point of a classical reference to a story from China: that the Han Dynasty Emperor Xiao-wu saw the face of his dead Lady Li appear to him in the smoke of burning incense. The musical setting for this piece is unusual as well -the rather lively virtuoso passages of the tegoto seem to have more in common with some festive occasion, than with the memorial services of the Mitsui family. Sato no Akatsuki was probably written sometime during the late 1790's. There is some doubt whether Yaezaki, or his older contemporary Urazaki Kengyo, actually composed the koto part, but, in either case, the original vocaI/sangen composition by Matsuura exhibits an expansiveness of design, a flamboyance of technique, which is more indicative of certain pre-kyomono compositions from Osaka. This influence is particularly evident in the tegoto, which contains elaborate Instrumental passages that, although effective in their own right, seem to exist for showcasing the skill of the performer rather than for purely musical reasons. However, ever. at this early date, one of Matsuura's outstanding characteristics, analytically speaking, is apparent: the wholesale repetition of lengthy passages of music in order to impose internal unity within what, basically is a loosely-defined form. In Sato no Akatsuki, the use of this technique is restricted to the tegoto; in his later Wakana it becomes organic. Not only do repetitions of music occur within the vocal sections, which is more than enough, but, more unusually, the mae-uta, is heard again in the ato-uta. This brings a sense of total unity to the work--a sense, one might add, that is generally lacking in most kyomono. Matsuura was unique in this regard: he was the only kyomono composer known to have experimented in this way with the form. His technique, more prevalent in his later works, of repeating passages within the internal organization of the tegotomono form secures; for Matsuura Kengyo, a special place-that of the innovator in the evolution of Japanese chamber music. Maeuta: Swift as an arrow, where does it set, (I long to know), the evening moon? Through sweet-smelling spring still lingers, In the grove of flowering orange, "Summer has-come!" a lone voice cries; So sings the mountain cuckoo, And then flies away. In ever-deeper darkness, raven-black, The night is lit by firefly lamps. But even in these shadows, The humid haze of summer rises; While dreams of love -- Restless, overwhelming dreams - Call back the soul of one departed... Ato uta: ...As was the case in China, (an ancient story, still recalled). Rank, stale; the lingering smoke of sooty fires, Climbs to the fringes of more fragrant clouds, Vanishing (I wonder where?), Into the sky of shortest summer nights.