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This is a Modern piece .

History (from Yokoyama Katsuya)
The composer, Seki Ichiro is an active shakuhachi player as well as a composer. In 1994, commissioned by International Shakuhachi Training Center which Yokoyama supervises, he composed a piece which was premiered by 200 (!) shakuhachi players. The title indicates the five (i.e. penta) soloists, each with a differently pitched shakuhachi, who produce a huge, symphonic sound together with a big group of shakuhachi players. After the premiere, the composer re-wrote the original piece for six soloists. The performance on the CD follows the latter arrangements.

The composer respects the work of Igor Stravinsky greatly, and this piece is dedicated to him. Some characteristics of early Stravinsky (i.e. the grouping of notes in terms of dynamic stresses) are adopted in this piece as well as certain combinations of lines which were characteristic of Stravinsky in his middle years. Also, it contains an interesting movement made by the repetition of sound shapes which it may suggest to the listener the charm of pieces for wind instruments composed by the 'groupe de six' (Poulenc for example) in modern France.

The very existence of a number of players who can reproduce music accurately may have influenced the birth of this precisely written piece.

Pentagonia II appears on the following albums:

Album	Shakuhachi	Koto	Shamisen
Shakuhachi - The Art of Yokoyama Katsuya  (Listen)	Yokoyama Katsuya
The composer, Seki Ichiro is an active shakuhachi player as well as a composer. In 1994, commissioned by International Shakuhachi Training Center which Yokoyama supervises, he composed a piece which was premiered by 200 (!) shakuhachi players. The title indicates the five (i.e. penta) soloists, each with a differently pitched shakuhachi, who produce a huge, symphonic sound together with a big group of shakuhachi players. After the premiere, the composer re-wrote the original piece for six soloists. The performance on the CD follows the latter arrangements. The composer respects the work of Igor Stravinsky greatly, and this piece is dedicated to him. Some characteristics of early Stravinsky (i.e. the grouping of notes in terms of dynamic stresses) are adopted in this piece as well as certain combinations of lines which were characteristic of Stravinsky in his middle years. Also, it contains an interesting movement made by the repetition of sound shapes which it may suggest to the listener the charm of pieces for wind instruments composed by the 'groupe de six' (Poulenc for example) in modern France. The very existence of a number of players who can reproduce music accurately may have influenced the birth of this precisely written piece.