Yasukazu Amemiya
Summer Prayer
RCA Red Seal (Japan) 1977
RVC-2154 (LP) w/insert.
sleeve : EX-(wear on corner, some light dirts)
media : EX/EX(some slightly noise)
Released in 1977, this album is by Japanese percussionist Yasukazu Amemiya, who studied timpani with Saul Goodman of the New York Philharmonic and percussion with Paul Price, before going on to perform with various symphony orchestras. Morton Feldman’s “The King of Denmark” is superb, but the true highlights here are Amemiya’s own compositions, “Summer Prayer (‘Natsu Nebutsu’)” and “Monochrome Sea.” Performed solo using a vast array of percussion instruments of all sizes together with tape, the music unfolds with a dynamic, almost cinematic force, as if witnessing a grand pictorial spectacle of the Lotus Sutra in sound. The final section of “Monochrome Sea,” in particular, is extraordinary, with a hushed, floating atmosphere of remarkable beauty. Highly recommended.
A1: Summer Prayer(“Natsu Nebutsu)”
B1: Monochrome Sea