Takashi Yoshimatsu

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Takashi Yoshimatsu ( Japanese 吉松 隆 , Yoshimatsu Takashi ; born March 18, 1953 in Tokyo ) is a contemporary Japanese composer of classical music .

Life

Takashi Yoshimatsu is considered to be one of the greatest composers of western style classical music in Japan. He left the technical department of Keiō University in 1972 and joined an amateur band called NOA as keyboardists who mimicked the music of Pink Floyd. On the side, he began to be interested in jazz and progressive rock .

He was a fan of the Walker Brothers and Ventures when he was 13, and when he was 14 he was fascinated by symphonies by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky . Since then he has composed a number of pieces before becoming known to a wider audience in 1981 with the serialistic piece "Threnody to Toki". Shortly afterwards he turned away from atonal music and began to compose in a free neo-romantic style with strong influences from jazz, rock and classical Japanese music . He underlined his reputation with the guitar concerto composed in 1985. Since then, Yoshimatsu has written five symphonies, six concerts (one each for bassoon , piano , cello , guitar , trombone and saxophone ), several sonatas and several shorter pieces for ensembles in various formations. His 'Atom Hearts Club Suites' for string orchestra are an explicit homage to the Beatles , Pink Floyd and Emerson, Lake and Palmer .

Yoshimatsu has published several essays and an introduction to classical music. He likes to draw and illustrate his books himself.

Major works

Orchestral works

Symphonies

  • Kamui-Chikap Symphony (1990)
  • Symphony No. 2 "At Terra" (1991)
  • Symphony No. 3 (1998)
  • Symphony No. 4 (2000)
  • Symphony No. 5 (2001)
  • Symphony No. 6 (2013)

Other orchestral works

  • Threnody to Toki for piano and string orchestra (1980)
  • Chikap (1982)
  • Guitar concert "Pegasus Effect" (1984)
  • The Age of Birds (1986)
  • Bassoon concert "Unicorn Circuit" (1988)
  • White Landscapes (1991/97)
  • Trombone concert "Orion Machine" (1993)
  • Saxophone concert "Cyber ​​Bird" (1993)
  • Dream Colored Mobile II (1993/98)
  • Ode to Birds and Rainbow (1994)
  • Piano concert "Memo Flora" (1997)
  • Atom Hearts Club Suite I for string orchestra (1997)
  • And Birds Are Still ... (1997)
  • While an Angel Falls into a Doze… for piano and string ensemble (1998)
  • Atom Hearts Club Suite II for string orchestra
  • Prelude to the Celebration of Birds (2000)
  • Cello concert "Centaurus Unit" (2003)
  • Saxophone concert "Albireo mode" (2005)

Chamber music

  • Forgetful Angel I for harmonica / violin and piano (1978)
  • Forgetful Angel II for harmonica and guitar (1979)
  • U-Getsu-Fu for Shakuhachi and 17-gen (1980)
  • Chikap for 15 flutes (1981)
  • Digital Bird Suite for flute and guitar / piano (1982)
  • Rainbow Colored Prism I for 2 pianos, 2 cellos and horn (1983)
  • 4 Pieces in Bird Shape for clarinet and piano (1983)
  • Random Bird Variations for 2 pianos (1985)
  • Forgetful Angel III for harmonica and accordion (1985)
  • Soh-Gyo-Fu for Shakuhachi and 20-gen (1986)
  • Pleiades Dances IIa for violin / flute and piano (1987)
  • Melting Dream for violin / saxophone / harmonica and piano (1987)
  • Sui-Gen-Fu for Shakuhachi and 13-gen (1989)
  • Fuzzy Bird Sonata for saxophone and piano (1991)
  • Bird Prism for 2 flutes and piano (1991)
  • Bird Rhythm for percussion (1991)
  • 3 White Landscapes for flute, bassoon / cello and harp (1991)
  • Rainbow Colored Mobile for mandolin orchestra (1992)
  • Dream Colored Mobile for saxophone / oboe / cello, harp and string quartet (1993)
  • Mimic Bird Comic for Horn and Percussion (1995)
  • Bird Dream Dance for Gagaku Ensemble (1997)
  • Atom Hearts Club Quartet for string quartet (1997)
  • Within Dreams Without Dreams for 2-gen, clarinet, violin and cello (1998)
  • Atom Hearts Club Duo for 2 guitars (1999)
  • Metal Snail Suite for euphonium and piano (1999)
  • Stellar Dream Dances for a Japanese instrument ensemble (2002)
  • 3 Exotic Songs for soprano saxophone and guitar (2002)
  • Partita a la Chesire Cat for piano and percussion (2005)
  • Sei-Gen-Fu for Sho and 20-gen (2006)
  • Wind Dream Dances for Shakuhachi and 20-gen (2006)

Piano solo

  • Regulus Circuit (1979)
  • Pleiades Dances I (1986)
  • Pleiades Dances II (1987)
  • Pleiades Dances III (1988)
  • Pleiades Dances IV (1992)
  • Pleiades Dances V (1992)
  • Piano Folio (1997)
  • Pleiades Dances VI (1998)
  • Pleiades Dances VII (1999)
  • Pleiades Dances VIII (2000)
  • Pleiades Dances IX (2001)
  • Tapiola Visions for piano - Left Hand (2004)
  • Ainola Lyrical Ballads for piano - Left Hand (2006)
  • Gauche Dances for piano - Left Hand (2006)

Guitar solo

  • Litmus Distance (1980)
  • Tender Toys (1983)
  • Wind Color Vector (1991)
  • Guitar Sonata "Sky Color Tensor" (1992)
  • Water Color Scalar (1993)
  • 2 Little Pieces (1994)
  • Around the Round Ground (1997)
  • 4 Little Dream Songs (1997)

Japanese instruments solo

  • Moyura for 20-gen (1990)
  • Nabari for 17-gen (1992)
  • Subaru for 20-gen (1999)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Yoshimatsu, Takashi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 吉松隆 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese composer of contemporary classical music
DATE OF BIRTH March 18, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Tokyo