Bekku – Symphonies Nos. 1, 2 (Yuasa, NSO of Ireland) [2005 Naxos]「FLAC」

Recording Date: 10th-11th January 2005 at the National Concert Hall (Dublin, Ireland)
Release Date: 1.9.2005
Publisher: Naxos
Catalogue No.: 8.557763J

Symphony No. 1 (1961)
1st movt. Allegro moderato
2nd movt. Allegro vivace
3rd movt. Lento
4th movt. Allegro con brio

Symphony No. 2 (1977, Revision 1978 & 2004)
1st movt. Allegro resoluto
2nd movt. Adagio
3rd movt. Allegro moderato

From the back cover, author unknown:

�Bekku was a leading figure in the anti-avant-garde movement in the postwar Japanese music scene. He loved Beethoven, although he studied with Milhaud and Messiaen in Paris from 1951 to 1954, instead of seeking teachers in Berlin or Vienna. By combining the German tradition of absolute music with the French style with its modal flexibility, he has been producing a variety of works, including five symphonies. In Symphony No. 1, Mahlerian heroism and Honeggerian pessimism encounter amidst its dense textures in the manner of late romanticism. Its final movement is dominated by wild march-like rhythms, the kind to be found in Roussel’s music for ballet. Symphony No. 2, which is more powerful and simpler than No. 1, witnesses retrogression from Roussel’s neo-classicism to Beethoven. About the work, Messiaen describes as follows: I adore this symphony. The first movement is powerful and the second movement is solemn, while the final movement is replete with extraordinary tension. Its orchestration is brilliant and the modal coda in D major is so very beautiful.�

For Bekku’s Symphonies Nos. 3 "The Spring" and 4 "The Summer 1945", go here (Thread 203925).

FLAC + LOG + SCANS
mega.nz (https://mega.nz/#F!bthniaaY!3BnmuEVcElxPQuPCFU8Swg)

Ripped by Herr Salat. Booklet scans have English liner notes by music historian Morihide Katayama on the two symphones.