Classical Ensemble Music Vol 3

Kitahara Kōzan II
Toshiba Records - TH-60010

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Wakana	若菜	18'52	Shakuhachi: Kitahara Kōzan II Koto: Tomiyama Mieko Shamisen: Tomiyama Seikin I Voice: Tomiyama Seikin I
	Performance with voice, shamisen, koto and shakuhachi. The original piece for only voice and shamisen was composed in the beginning of the 19th century by Matsuura Kengyo, a most excellent shamisen musician of the day. The koto part was added soon after the original composition by Yaezaki Kengyo, a koto virtuoso who accomplished this style of ensemble music by composing the additional koto parts to almost all of the famous shamisen pieces in those days. (Kengyo is the top of the social rank of the blind in the Edo period.) The title of the piece means young herbs and the poem describes the scene of an ancient New Year's festivity in which young women are gathering young herbs in the field The form of the piece is in three parts: fore-song, interlude and after-song. The so-called interlude, being more important than the term implies, is really the main section of the piece where instrumental skill flourishes. Beside that, the extremely emblematic technique (prolongation of the vowel of each syllable) of the vocal part is a striking feature of this piece.
2	Sakura Gawa	桜川	12'23	Shakuhachi: Kitahara Kōzan II Koto: Tomiyama Seikin II Shamisen: Tomiyama Seikin I Voice: Tomiyama Seikin I
	Performance with voice, shamisen, koto and shakuhachi. The original piece, not including shakuhachi, was composed in 1930's by Mitsuzaki Kengyo, who is more famous for the fact that he composed pieces in new styles for only voice and koto, which were so-to-speak revolutionary attempts in those days when the koto was regarded as a subordinate instrument to shamisen music. This piece is exceptional among those pieces in the same style, in respect that both shamisen and koto part were composed by the same person. Consequently, it has more heterophonic character as compared with other pieces. The poem is a description of the scenery of the river called Sakuragawa (sakura = cherry, ogawa or kawa = river) which is famous for cherry-blossoms, and the music has a comparatively gay feeling. The piece consists of a short introduction, a fore-song, an instrumental interlude and an after-song.
3	Ganjō no Matsu	岩上の松	09'54	Shakuhachi: Kitahara Kōzan II Koto: Tomiyama Mieko Koto: Tomiyama Seikin I Voice: Tomiyama Seikin I
	Performance with voice, two koto and shakuhachi. The original piece, not including shakuhachi, is a work of Yoichi Kikuzuka, who composed many pieces in the new style called Meiji-shinkyoku, namely new pieces in the Meiji era (1868-1912). The title, meaning a pine-tree on the rock, originally was the theme of the New Year's Imperial Poetic Competition held in 1904. The poem felicitates the everlastingness of the Emperor's reign comparing it to the evergreen pine-tree. The piece consists of six parts: introduction, fore-song, interlude, middle song, interlude and after-song. The two koto are unisonal in the song parts, but, in the interlude parts they play differently forming a kind of duet.