Toshi Ichiyanagaki "Cosmos of Toshi Ichiyanagi II"

Toshi Ichiyanagaki
Cosmos of Toshi Ichiyanagi II
Camerata (Japan) 1985
CMT-4026 (LP) w/obi.
sleeve : NM-(wear on one corner, still fine condition.)
media : EX+/EX+(some slightly surface noises, still good condition.)

This album was released in 1985 and features four pieces by Toshi Ichiyanagi Compose, a leading composer of minimal music who was one of the first in Japan to be exposed to the music of John Cage, introduced his theories into his own compositional method, and introduced John Cage and other American avant-garde music to Japan in the early 1960s. A1 is a score for solo violin, A2 is a score for solo oboe, B1 is a score for solo sho, a traditional Japanese instrument used in gagaku (court music), and B2 is a score for solo piano, and is composed by Hamao Fujiwara (violin), James P. Ostryniec (oboe), Miyata Mayumi (sho) and Izumi Shimura (p) participated in each piece as performers. The ambience of B1 is wonderful, with a set of very sustained sounds floating quietly in space while emitting multiple tones simultaneously, while the solo piano of B2 is a unique minimalism that seems to be constructed randomly of incongruent single notes.