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Gagaku

Gagaku

Various
Columbia - CLS-5006
1961

Track Title Kanji Length Artist
1  Play Button Goshoraku no Kyû 07'13
GOSHORAKU NO KYU (hyojo)
Hyojo is a gagaku scale based on atone corresponding to E natural in western music.

According to tradition, Goshoraku was composed toward the end of the chen-kuan era (A. D. 627-649) by T'ai·tsung, second emperor of the T'ang dynasty, assigning one of the five eternal values (gosho) of 1 (righteousness), Jen (humaneness), Li (propriety). Ch'i (knowledge) and Hsin (faith) to each of the five notes of the pentatonic scale. A dance piece consisting of four sections, jo. ei, ha and kyû also is known at present. This piece would correspond to the last section of the dance.
2  Play Button Etenraku, Nokorigaku Senben 09'41
ETENRAKU, NOKORIGAKU SANBEN (hyojo)
This piece, composed in China during the T'ang dynasty, is one of the most typical gagaku numbers. The tune has been borrowed for Buddhist hymns and school songs and there is even an arrangement of it for Western orchestra.

Nokorigaku is a special form of gagaku performance. The piece is repeated three times, the first time with the full ensemble, while during the second time the percussion instruments fall silent and, except for the koto section, only the first- chair members of the other sections play. During the second playing, first the sho and then the flute drops out. Only the koto section and the first biwa and hichiriki remain to begin the third repetition. The hichiriki stitches short melodic fragments over the background of koto figures and the piece ends with a final figure on the koto.
3  Play Button Jussuiraku 05'02
JUSSUIRAKU (oshiki-cho)
Oshiki-cho is a gagaku scale based on atone corresponding to A natural in western music.

This music was composed for the ceremonies following the ascension to the throne of the Emperor Nimmyo in 834 . On this occasion gravel was spread in the front garden of the Homeiden and trees were planted to suggest a mountain scene, while pale-pink cloths were spread on the ground and water plants placed on them to suggest a beach. In this setting the dancers mimed fisher folk gathering seaweed. The work was composed by Oto no Kiyokami while the dance was created by Owari no Hamanushi hut only the music has survived to the present.
4  Play Button Keibairaku no Kyû 07'20
KEIBAIRAKU NO KYU (taishiki.cho) Taishiki-cho is a gagaku scale based on a tone corresponding to E natural in western music. Keibairaku is said to have been composed by Ch'ang-sun Wu·i around the middle of the chen-kuan era of T'ang hut Since there is also evidence of its existence during the previous dynasty of Sui, this is not clear. Only the kyû or final section has come down to us and the dance is lost.
5  Play Button Shukoshi 06'25
SHUKOSHI (sojo)
Sojo is a gagaku scale based on atone corresponding to G natural in western music. This is an adaptation to sojo of a work originally in ichi- kotsu-cho, a change analogous to transposing into another key in Western music hut causing complex changes in the melodic line due to the nature of the scales used. It is said to have been played during drinking parties at the T'ang court.
6  Play Button Senshûraku 06'06
SENSHÜRAKU (hanshiki-cho)
Banshiki-cho is a gagaku scale based on atone corresponding to B natural in western music.

There is a tradition that Minamoto Yoriyoshi, head of the Department of Music with the rank of Kenmotsu, and who had originally borne the Chinese surname Wang composed this piece on the order of the Emperor Konoe for his post ascension ceremonies in 1143 hut the Dai Nihonshi (Great History of Japan) notes that in the T'ang shu (History of the T'ang Dynasty) there is an entry for the fifth day of the eighth month of a year during the k'ai-yuan era (713-741) to the effect that a piece called “Ch'ien-ch'iu" (Japanese: Senshu ) was played and the nation reveled and suggests that this may be the origin of this piece.