Vinphonic
10-03-2017, 05:02 PM
The Legacy of Japanese Composers
Taro Iwashiro
Taro Iwashiro is surely an oddball. On one hand a brilliant symphonic poet and the Japanese answer to John Barry, but on the other hand the most monotone drum machine on the planet. Luckily he composed quite a legacy of beautiful musical poems.
The first twelve albums are the reason I hold him in such high regarde. I consider them to be neoclassical albums and Barry-esque filmscores disguised as TV and Movie soundtracks, with much Japanese flavor. Some of his early works, represented in TACT were even never shared online and are even out of print now, which is a pain since they are not on iTunes. I hope every album from the first TACT makes it online somehow. Anyway, here he is an artist first, and a soundtrack composer second, which makes this turnaround to todays monotone by-the-numbers drum pattern machine at times all the more baffling.
The last four albums represent his change in style albeit being his best effort from this era. That said, KADO is one of his very best works and I'm glad the soundtrack was released recently.
Even more baffling is the fact that moments of greatness appear in even his most monotone albums such as his Theme to Red Cliff, the Opening of Gargantia or Heaven and Earth from Arslan. And even some stylistic choices like delightful Steel Drum and folk dances in Gargantia or using ancient lyrics for Arslan I can totally get behind.
Thankfully things are heading into the right direction again. Arslan is by and large much better than previous efforts, and the respective symphonic album is a giant leap into old greatness. I consider Kado to be another work that represents this positive change, far more so than the others. Yes, some monotone tracks appear but by and large it’s a much more lyrical score with operatic moments and from the opening to the ending, it’s very fitting for a high concept SciFi show. It's the best thing he wrote in ages.
I anticipate another symphonic suite for Kado and I’m hoping for more signs of the return of the artist to appear. Nonetheless dive into this otherwise beautiful mind.
LINK IN DESCRIPTION (https://mega.nz/#!43glSRBL!Uo02xN3K5Mxz6LlHDoCh3EJm6aBJ_E2xPoN1h9tS8a0)
Taro Iwashiro
Taro Iwashiro is surely an oddball. On one hand a brilliant symphonic poet and the Japanese answer to John Barry, but on the other hand the most monotone drum machine on the planet. Luckily he composed quite a legacy of beautiful musical poems.
The first twelve albums are the reason I hold him in such high regarde. I consider them to be neoclassical albums and Barry-esque filmscores disguised as TV and Movie soundtracks, with much Japanese flavor. Some of his early works, represented in TACT were even never shared online and are even out of print now, which is a pain since they are not on iTunes. I hope every album from the first TACT makes it online somehow. Anyway, here he is an artist first, and a soundtrack composer second, which makes this turnaround to todays monotone by-the-numbers drum pattern machine at times all the more baffling.
The last four albums represent his change in style albeit being his best effort from this era. That said, KADO is one of his very best works and I'm glad the soundtrack was released recently.
Even more baffling is the fact that moments of greatness appear in even his most monotone albums such as his Theme to Red Cliff, the Opening of Gargantia or Heaven and Earth from Arslan. And even some stylistic choices like delightful Steel Drum and folk dances in Gargantia or using ancient lyrics for Arslan I can totally get behind.
Thankfully things are heading into the right direction again. Arslan is by and large much better than previous efforts, and the respective symphonic album is a giant leap into old greatness. I consider Kado to be another work that represents this positive change, far more so than the others. Yes, some monotone tracks appear but by and large it’s a much more lyrical score with operatic moments and from the opening to the ending, it’s very fitting for a high concept SciFi show. It's the best thing he wrote in ages.
I anticipate another symphonic suite for Kado and I’m hoping for more signs of the return of the artist to appear. Nonetheless dive into this otherwise beautiful mind.
LINK IN DESCRIPTION (https://mega.nz/#!43glSRBL!Uo02xN3K5Mxz6LlHDoCh3EJm6aBJ_E2xPoN1h9tS8a0)