Vinphonic
10-03-2017, 02:54 PM
The Legacy of Japanese Composers
Joe Hisaishi (Mamoru Fujisawa)
Japanese Composer Mamoru Fujisawa achieved worldwide fame under his alias �Joe Hisaishi� and is one of the greatest living composers of this century and will most likely be remembered as one of the greatest composers who ever lived. He is part of the pantheon of legendary composers that houses John Williams, Vaughan Williams, Korngold or Prokofiev.
He started as a modern experimentalist, inspired by Terry Riley and Steve Reich, experimenting with synths and avant-garde music but transformed into today�s greatest guardian of tonal classical music. This directly parallels the western world�s greatest living composer, John Williams, who started with Jazz, entered the film music world, achieved a beautiful collaboration with a world-famous director and gave us many of the best film scores ever written with a few concert works as bonus. To this day Williams has numerous compilation albums released, his music is celebrated with sold-out concert halls and he vehemently holds the flag for the necessity of appreciating classical music. His work has touched the mind and soul of an entire generation and I�m sure future generations as well. No other Japanese composer compares to this reputation and legacy except for Hisaishi. He is easily more popular and recognized (in Japan and around the world) than all of the other Legacy composers combined.
Hisaishi had the luxury of having multiple of the (very) few fruitful Japanese composer-director relationships comparable to Spielberg-Williams. He works not only in Japan but has various collaborations all around the world, conducted at Cannes and 90% of his orchestral music is performed by a Symphony Orchestra, which considering his enormous body of work should tell you about his prestige. To this day he has released numerous orchestral albums, symphonies (they call it symphonic suites) and concerts. He even entered the director�s chair and wrote a few books.
He has a deep appreciation for classic western film music and Slavic romantic works. You can certainly attribute a certain �Slavic� feel to many of his works and not for nothing did he personally conduct and released a CD of Anton�n Leopold Dvoř�k's New World Symphony. He also shares my views on today�s classical music in that most is just a chaotic mess that rejects tonality as if it�s the antichrist. Time and time again I hear just academic wanking and I guess I don�t need to remind you of Gabriel Prokofiev �genius�. There�s just no reasoning with these circles that honestly dismiss Williams and Hisaishi�s achievements just because they are tonal. I give the middle finger to atonal experimentalism of today. We�ve already had Penderecki, you can�t ever top that. It�s not hip anymore, it�s boring, it became the new clich� and is played-out to everyone�s boredom. There�s a reason people still remember and visit classical and romantic music after hundreds of years and right now Hisaishi is acting as their strongest advocator.
He is currently working on the PS4/PC game Ni No Kuni 2 among certain TV and film projects and he is still far off from the retirement age.
I. Hisaishi�s Ghibli (Animation Works)
The first three albums are intended as a general introduction to the masters work. Melodyphony is one of the greatest collaborations between a Japanese composer and a European Orchestra, on par with Sahashi�s Gundam Symphonies or Oshima�s Moscow scores. �Departures� makes the entire soundtrack album of Okuribito obsolete and �Orbis� (A homage to Beethoven) is his greatest choral work in my opinion.
His collaboration with Ghibli director Hayato Miyazaki have led to numerous fantastic concertesque works, highly tonal and full of unforgettable melodies. Symphonic albums, all of them. His 25th Anniversary concert for Ghibli will go down in history as one of the greatest concert performances of all time. A phenomenal achievement of scale and melody I revisit every single year. The 25th Anniversary Budokan concert rip is provided by tangotreats.
Noticeable is the collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic for his symphonic works for which he requested a specific �Slavic character in the music�. His Howl's Moving Castle and his Princess Mononoke symphonies are both masterpieces.
I feel Nausicaa is best served in symphonic form which is why it�s not present in this collection. There are a lot of variations, easily his most repeated work, appearing on numerous albums. I think the Budokan concert and the Symphonic Best Selection are the best versions.
For ARION we can hear the early Hisaishi taking on a full-scale symphonic work with the voice of the rhythm master, Mamoru Fujisawa: Much more rhythmic in character than his later symphonic works and reminiscent of Golden Age cinema.
Totoro, Laputa and Ponyo showcase Hisaishi divine gift of unforgettable melodies that stick with you your entire life. Pure Joy and love for live shine through his music like no other. There's also numerous winks and homages to the classical repertoire. Most noteable is the appearance of Vaughan Williams and Wagner in Ponyo. I also consider his Kaguyahime a masterpiece of Japanese orchestral sound with �Hishou� being among my favorite compositions from the master.
For the game Ni no Kuni Hisaishi crafted one of the greatest game scores of all time that sits alongside Outcast, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. And soon we will find out if he will deliver another one of the greatest game scores ever written.
II. Live-Action Joe (Film and Television Works)
Now we are entering the realm of Hisaishi the classical film composer.
He wrote tons of great war scores but not even a composer of his ability shies away of taking inspiration from other composers across the ocean more than is appropriate. He blatantly used Hans Zimmer�s The Rock for Yamato for example, but what is funny is that it actually works far better in the context of a classic concertesque Hollywood score. His Elegy of Men is one of the greatest action pieces ever written for film.
Saka No Ue No Kumo is a glorious TV score with a glorious heart sweeping theme. One of the greatest TV scores ever written, three hours of a concertesque war symphony.
With Onna no Nubunaga he delivers a masterfully crafted choral rhapsody and Giant Deep Sea Creatures is a masterfully crafted textural sea symphony with the character of his concert works.
Tenchi Meisatsu and Kiseki no Ringo are like Tototro and Laputa a joyful outburst of pure melody that lifts your spirit.
Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai reminds me of Oshima�s Adiantum Blue in parts and is an introspective and tragic symphonic journey.
His two dog stories are usually places where you find the infamous �Mickey Mousing� but not with Hisaishi. Full on symphonic adventures with killer melodies is what you get instead.
He also contributed music to various Asian and European productions, from China to France. You get the full-blown Hollywood bombast with A Chinese Tall Story, a more concertesque symphonic journey with The Legend (of Four Gods), Golden Age glory with Dongmakgol, (European) Silver Age drama with The Sun Also Rises, a horneresque Dark Fantasy Epic with Le Petit Poucet, or even Silent Film Era homages with Italian film music flair in Le Mecano de La General.
III. Mamoru Fujisawa (Concert Works)
The real man behind Hisaishi wrote also many concert works with a more personal feel attached to it since he has his foundation in minimalism and rhythm mastery.
You can also count his Melodyphony and Symphonic Best Selection among those, I�ve just included them in the first part as a general introduction of his music, so I�m talking about them as well.
His Orchestral Works expand and revise his musical ideas from various media projects, turning them into Symphonic Suites. He also includes his concert works, many clearly inspired by Steve Reich. Especially noteworthy is his musical homage to Scott Fitzgerald. But whether it�s his ode to Beethoven with Orbis and Sinfonia or his Symphonic Variations on �Merry-go-round�, I�m 100% sure they will be added to the �classical repertoire� in the future. This music deserves to live on in the concert hall forever.
With The End of the World he created a modern masterpiece in the vain of the Hiroshima Symphony, a brilliant fusion of minimalist rhythm and dissonant action with operatic soprano, monumental choir and beautiful melodic passages.
Minima_Rythm is his great opus of minimalist music in the vain of Philip Glas and Steve Reich and he is paying tribute to his early inspirations as a composer with a fantastic labyrinth of rhythm, made even more impressive by the sound of the world�s greatest orchestra.
Finally a few albums with his collaboration with Japanese Director Kitano where we can hear the voice of Fujisawa more than the voice of Hisaishi. But I will say something sacrilegious now: I love his later phases infinitely more than his early phases. I�m not particularly fond of his experimentalism phase, especially the electronic ones. Kohei Tanaka is the only composer to my knowledge that successfully incorporated synths into orchestral works that do not feel �dated� or slightly off-putting.
But those three albums are not only works of art but also thematic gold and full of heart. Kikojiro no Natsu has an absolute killer melody that will ease your day and Brother has a Jazzy Hisaishi with full-blown romanticism. What�s not to love.
Composer Profile: Joe Hisaishi
Education: Kunitachi College of Music
Occupation: Composer, Conductor, Arranger, Director, Author
Inspiration: Classical Repertoire, Hollywood, Minimalism, Experimental Rock and Jazz
Similar western composer: John Williams, Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Steve Reich
Style: Contemporary Classic, Minimalism, Golden Age
LINK IN THE DESCRIPTION (https://mega.nz/#!0qpH0ajJ!EGqQ39YQJ0DnAaZc6c8IRdNsDW6mdywAA_khMtEwAK0)
Joe Hisaishi (Mamoru Fujisawa)
Japanese Composer Mamoru Fujisawa achieved worldwide fame under his alias �Joe Hisaishi� and is one of the greatest living composers of this century and will most likely be remembered as one of the greatest composers who ever lived. He is part of the pantheon of legendary composers that houses John Williams, Vaughan Williams, Korngold or Prokofiev.
He started as a modern experimentalist, inspired by Terry Riley and Steve Reich, experimenting with synths and avant-garde music but transformed into today�s greatest guardian of tonal classical music. This directly parallels the western world�s greatest living composer, John Williams, who started with Jazz, entered the film music world, achieved a beautiful collaboration with a world-famous director and gave us many of the best film scores ever written with a few concert works as bonus. To this day Williams has numerous compilation albums released, his music is celebrated with sold-out concert halls and he vehemently holds the flag for the necessity of appreciating classical music. His work has touched the mind and soul of an entire generation and I�m sure future generations as well. No other Japanese composer compares to this reputation and legacy except for Hisaishi. He is easily more popular and recognized (in Japan and around the world) than all of the other Legacy composers combined.
Hisaishi had the luxury of having multiple of the (very) few fruitful Japanese composer-director relationships comparable to Spielberg-Williams. He works not only in Japan but has various collaborations all around the world, conducted at Cannes and 90% of his orchestral music is performed by a Symphony Orchestra, which considering his enormous body of work should tell you about his prestige. To this day he has released numerous orchestral albums, symphonies (they call it symphonic suites) and concerts. He even entered the director�s chair and wrote a few books.
He has a deep appreciation for classic western film music and Slavic romantic works. You can certainly attribute a certain �Slavic� feel to many of his works and not for nothing did he personally conduct and released a CD of Anton�n Leopold Dvoř�k's New World Symphony. He also shares my views on today�s classical music in that most is just a chaotic mess that rejects tonality as if it�s the antichrist. Time and time again I hear just academic wanking and I guess I don�t need to remind you of Gabriel Prokofiev �genius�. There�s just no reasoning with these circles that honestly dismiss Williams and Hisaishi�s achievements just because they are tonal. I give the middle finger to atonal experimentalism of today. We�ve already had Penderecki, you can�t ever top that. It�s not hip anymore, it�s boring, it became the new clich� and is played-out to everyone�s boredom. There�s a reason people still remember and visit classical and romantic music after hundreds of years and right now Hisaishi is acting as their strongest advocator.
He is currently working on the PS4/PC game Ni No Kuni 2 among certain TV and film projects and he is still far off from the retirement age.
I. Hisaishi�s Ghibli (Animation Works)
The first three albums are intended as a general introduction to the masters work. Melodyphony is one of the greatest collaborations between a Japanese composer and a European Orchestra, on par with Sahashi�s Gundam Symphonies or Oshima�s Moscow scores. �Departures� makes the entire soundtrack album of Okuribito obsolete and �Orbis� (A homage to Beethoven) is his greatest choral work in my opinion.
His collaboration with Ghibli director Hayato Miyazaki have led to numerous fantastic concertesque works, highly tonal and full of unforgettable melodies. Symphonic albums, all of them. His 25th Anniversary concert for Ghibli will go down in history as one of the greatest concert performances of all time. A phenomenal achievement of scale and melody I revisit every single year. The 25th Anniversary Budokan concert rip is provided by tangotreats.
Noticeable is the collaboration with the Czech Philharmonic for his symphonic works for which he requested a specific �Slavic character in the music�. His Howl's Moving Castle and his Princess Mononoke symphonies are both masterpieces.
I feel Nausicaa is best served in symphonic form which is why it�s not present in this collection. There are a lot of variations, easily his most repeated work, appearing on numerous albums. I think the Budokan concert and the Symphonic Best Selection are the best versions.
For ARION we can hear the early Hisaishi taking on a full-scale symphonic work with the voice of the rhythm master, Mamoru Fujisawa: Much more rhythmic in character than his later symphonic works and reminiscent of Golden Age cinema.
Totoro, Laputa and Ponyo showcase Hisaishi divine gift of unforgettable melodies that stick with you your entire life. Pure Joy and love for live shine through his music like no other. There's also numerous winks and homages to the classical repertoire. Most noteable is the appearance of Vaughan Williams and Wagner in Ponyo. I also consider his Kaguyahime a masterpiece of Japanese orchestral sound with �Hishou� being among my favorite compositions from the master.
For the game Ni no Kuni Hisaishi crafted one of the greatest game scores of all time that sits alongside Outcast, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. And soon we will find out if he will deliver another one of the greatest game scores ever written.
II. Live-Action Joe (Film and Television Works)
Now we are entering the realm of Hisaishi the classical film composer.
He wrote tons of great war scores but not even a composer of his ability shies away of taking inspiration from other composers across the ocean more than is appropriate. He blatantly used Hans Zimmer�s The Rock for Yamato for example, but what is funny is that it actually works far better in the context of a classic concertesque Hollywood score. His Elegy of Men is one of the greatest action pieces ever written for film.
Saka No Ue No Kumo is a glorious TV score with a glorious heart sweeping theme. One of the greatest TV scores ever written, three hours of a concertesque war symphony.
With Onna no Nubunaga he delivers a masterfully crafted choral rhapsody and Giant Deep Sea Creatures is a masterfully crafted textural sea symphony with the character of his concert works.
Tenchi Meisatsu and Kiseki no Ringo are like Tototro and Laputa a joyful outburst of pure melody that lifts your spirit.
Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai reminds me of Oshima�s Adiantum Blue in parts and is an introspective and tragic symphonic journey.
His two dog stories are usually places where you find the infamous �Mickey Mousing� but not with Hisaishi. Full on symphonic adventures with killer melodies is what you get instead.
He also contributed music to various Asian and European productions, from China to France. You get the full-blown Hollywood bombast with A Chinese Tall Story, a more concertesque symphonic journey with The Legend (of Four Gods), Golden Age glory with Dongmakgol, (European) Silver Age drama with The Sun Also Rises, a horneresque Dark Fantasy Epic with Le Petit Poucet, or even Silent Film Era homages with Italian film music flair in Le Mecano de La General.
III. Mamoru Fujisawa (Concert Works)
The real man behind Hisaishi wrote also many concert works with a more personal feel attached to it since he has his foundation in minimalism and rhythm mastery.
You can also count his Melodyphony and Symphonic Best Selection among those, I�ve just included them in the first part as a general introduction of his music, so I�m talking about them as well.
His Orchestral Works expand and revise his musical ideas from various media projects, turning them into Symphonic Suites. He also includes his concert works, many clearly inspired by Steve Reich. Especially noteworthy is his musical homage to Scott Fitzgerald. But whether it�s his ode to Beethoven with Orbis and Sinfonia or his Symphonic Variations on �Merry-go-round�, I�m 100% sure they will be added to the �classical repertoire� in the future. This music deserves to live on in the concert hall forever.
With The End of the World he created a modern masterpiece in the vain of the Hiroshima Symphony, a brilliant fusion of minimalist rhythm and dissonant action with operatic soprano, monumental choir and beautiful melodic passages.
Minima_Rythm is his great opus of minimalist music in the vain of Philip Glas and Steve Reich and he is paying tribute to his early inspirations as a composer with a fantastic labyrinth of rhythm, made even more impressive by the sound of the world�s greatest orchestra.
Finally a few albums with his collaboration with Japanese Director Kitano where we can hear the voice of Fujisawa more than the voice of Hisaishi. But I will say something sacrilegious now: I love his later phases infinitely more than his early phases. I�m not particularly fond of his experimentalism phase, especially the electronic ones. Kohei Tanaka is the only composer to my knowledge that successfully incorporated synths into orchestral works that do not feel �dated� or slightly off-putting.
But those three albums are not only works of art but also thematic gold and full of heart. Kikojiro no Natsu has an absolute killer melody that will ease your day and Brother has a Jazzy Hisaishi with full-blown romanticism. What�s not to love.
Composer Profile: Joe Hisaishi
Education: Kunitachi College of Music
Occupation: Composer, Conductor, Arranger, Director, Author
Inspiration: Classical Repertoire, Hollywood, Minimalism, Experimental Rock and Jazz
Similar western composer: John Williams, Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Steve Reich
Style: Contemporary Classic, Minimalism, Golden Age
LINK IN THE DESCRIPTION (https://mega.nz/#!0qpH0ajJ!EGqQ39YQJ0DnAaZc6c8IRdNsDW6mdywAA_khMtEwAK0)