Various Artists
Hibiki - Contemporary Music for Japanese Traditional Instruments
RCA Red Seal (Japan) 1970
JRZ-2502~08 (4LP) Box Set. w/booklet, 4 x original inner sleeve (red).
box : VG+(SPSE: some small crack on side, wear on edge and corner, light dirts.)
media : EX/EX,EX/EX,EX/EX,EX/EX(some slightly noises.)
This is a historic 4-LP box set released in 1970, compiling contemporary music compositions for traditional Japanese instruments. It features works by 13 Japanese composers, spanning from pre-war composers like Yasuji Kiyose to post-war luminaries born in the 1930s such as Toru Takemitsu, Makoto Moroi, Ryohei Hirose, and Yutaka Makino, as well as the youngest generation represented by Yoshio Hachimura. The album includes performances by prominent ensembles and musicians such as Ensemble Nipponia, Yonin-No-Kai, members of Shakuhachi-Sanbon-Kai including Hozan Yamamoto, Katsuya Yokoyama, Shizuo Aoki, and others like Tadao Sawai, Kazue Sawai, and Chikuho Sakai. The set showcases a range of styles—from compositions based on the pentatonic scale and traditional Japanese forms infused with Western classical structures to pieces exploring a natural unification of tradition and avant-garde, as seen in Takemitsu’s Eclipse, Moroi’s Taiwa-Godai, and Hirose’s Aki for Two Shakuhachi. It also includes Hachimura’s non-structural, emotive expressions, offering a sweeping view of Japanese traditional music’s evolution within contemporary music. Of particular note is Hachimura’s D4, composed for Ensemble Nipponia. The set includes a 30-page booklet, and the box’s artwork features a unique design with different color schemes on the inner sleeves—an extremely rare edition (details unknown).
D4: Yoshio Hachimura “Shigarami #2”
E1: Toru Takemitsu “Ecripse”
F2: Ryohei Hirose “Aki for Two Shakuhachi”