Singing Garden in Venice - Nachspiel, Nacht - Schlaf
06:49
Description
The blank spaces on the paper have their own tension, known in Japanese as ma. That tension can be felt in music, between two sounds. Here Hosokawa sees a major difference between European and eastern music: ‘The only thing of importance [in western music] is perhaps the sonorous impact, the sound as of a cathedral where one finds eternity. We find beauty in a cherry tree, precisely because they blossom so briefly – eternity does not exist, we know no God. The flower withers, but next year the cherry tree blossoms anew. Sound is like such blossom, it comes and goes. The silences, the absence, are not empty but full of sound, if we were able to hear.’
Each sound, therefore, is born of silence, as a meditation, and here the rhythm of breathing is crucial for Hosokawa. Sounds grow and fade, the pauzes between the breaths determine the form. Together notes can form clusters, even sharp dissonances – for nature is seldom in full harmony – but they always return to individual notes and silence. Such a cyclic structure does not seek development, completion or repetition, but floats on ongoing movement and variation, which is likewise a significant contrast with western music. ‘In eastern thinking’, Hosokawa writes, ‘the voice (i.e. the sound) is born when the spirit itself is manifest in breath. The expression of this dynamic process, reflecting the sound of the spirit in breath and voice, this, for me as a composer, is the ultimate challenge.’
The contrast with the music of Antonio Vivaldi could hardly be greater. The chasm in time, approach and aesthetics is so deep that it is perhaps futile to look for deeper relationships. Where Hosokawa pursues an expression of an extra-musical breath, Vivaldi surprises us time and again by playing with the form of the Baroque concerto – and then in more than five hundred compositions! This variety is often inspired by a musical effect, a person or a story, as in La notte, blossoming from Hosokawa’s nocturnal imagery as a melodic and rhythmic mirror, or in La tempesta di mare, prompted by the second intermezzo, Das Meer vor dem Sturm. Sometimes the ‘programme’ is less clear, as in Il gardellino (with written-out birdsong) or in the fourth concerto, which
Schwarzer has called La festa.
While Hosokawa’s exquisite sounds are as expressive as Vivaldi’s, they represent a very different aesthetic. Vivaldi is more literal in his imitations of nature, and constructs clear rhythmic and harmonic patters. Hosokawa is about something else. (…) As East meets West, the past and present come together in Hosokawa’s music.
Music Emotion
(…) de samenwerking met Schwarzer levert een verrassend album op. Het contrast tussen Vivaldi en Hosokawa is groot, maar er is ook spraken van natuurlijke verbondenheid. (…)
Magazin.Klassik.com
(…) ein virtuoser Blockflötenspieler (…) kräftig, klar und energiereich begleietet (…)
Luister 9
De overgangen tussen Hosokawa en Vivaldi verlopen vanzelfsprekend, alsof het zo hoort. (…) subtiel en rijk van klank (…)
De Gelderlander 6.25 out of 5
(…) Een mystieke voedingsbodem van Aziatische signatuur die plek biedt aan vier westerse ‘bloemen’: een kwartet van beroemde fluitconcerten van Antonio Vivaldi.
Independant.co.uk 6.25 out of 5
(…) delightful trilling recorder birdsong of “Il Gardellino” deftly and delicately delivered by Schwarzer (…)
Het Parool 5 out of 5
(..) een modelplaat (…) een spel van klankevocatie en stiltes, waarvoor geen andere omschrijving te bedenken is dan toverachtig (…) aangename verwarring (…) Holland Baroque speelt alle stukken buitengewoon beeldend en met zwier. Van harte aanbevolen.
Audiophile Audition
These odd pairings had an excellent chance of going wrong, but the fine performances, the marvelous recording, and the selected music from both composers work well. Recommended for both the music, the artistic conception, and the wonderful recording.
HRAudio 5 out of 5
(…) the fascinating sounds and textures created by the talented players of Holland Baroque Society are both magical and hypnotic. (…) the fruity bassoon playing of Moni Fischalek deserves special mention. (…) state-of-the-art quality (…)
Opus Klassiek
(…) Hosokawa heeft perfecte soundscapes gemaakt die naadloos aansliuten bij de klanken van Vivaldi. (…) Schwartzer is een virtuoos met een bloeiende fantasie (…) een intrigerend genot om naar te luisteren – ieder kiezeltje en elk waterdrupje is te horen.
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