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Gagaku

the music

the music

the music

The pieces on this CD, performed by a full gagaku orchestra of up to 16 musicians playing over 20 instruments, are set out in an order that reflects the typical structure of the regular spring and autumn concerts given by the Palace musicians, which are open to the public. The first half of these concerts is made up of a kangen performance; several togaku pieces in one of the six togaku modes, sometimes with a saibara or roei. On this CD we have three pieces in the mode hyojo together with the saibara Koromogae. The second half of the concerts at the Imperial Music Department is composed of a bugaku performance, as a rule two dances: a togaku (or 'Left') dance followed by komagaku (or 'Right') dance. On the CD we have the togaku dance Ryoo and the komagaku dance Hassen. The CD finishes with the rhythmic togaku piece Chogeishi, which has traditionally been played at the conclusion of a dance performance. Booklet annotation is provided by Steven G. Nelson, the only Western member on the staff a the new Research Centre for Japanese Traditional Music, Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan.

The music recorded on this CD, performed by a full gagaku orchestra of up to 16 musicians and over 20 instruments, represents all three major bodies of gagaku music and dance. Outa (tracks 1 to 3) is a kuniburi-no-utamai performed only at very special ceremonies, such as those associated with rites of Imperial succession. Tracks 4 to 6 present a kangen (orchestral) performance of the togaku piece Konju, which can also be performed as a dance. In tracks 7 and 9 we are treated to an exceptional performance of the komagaku piece Kitoku in kangen style, with winds, strings, and percussion; it is generally performed as a dance, without the strings. The remaining tracks cover the two genres of accompanied court songs; the roei Harusugi and the saibara Anato, each preceded by the netori, or tuning piece, which establishes the mode in which it is performed. The full instrumentarium of the various gagaku ensembles is made up of wind, string, and percussion instruments. Traditionally, these have been referred to respectively as fukimono ('blown things'), hikimono ('played things') and uchimono ('struck things'). Booklet annotation is provided by Associate Professor Steven G. Nelson, the only Western member on the staff at the new Research Centre for Japanese Tradition Music, Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan.

Until the 1960s, composition of new pieces for the genre was often seen as an affront to the dignity of the tradition. The situation is changing, however; since its establishment in 1966, the National Theatre in Tokyo has contributed significantly towards developing new possibilities for gagaku performance, and the emergence of new performing groups like Reigakusha, less bound to the official version of the art, has made it easier for new possibilities to be explored. Recorded on this CD are two taikyoku (extensive suites in multiple movements), the first a suite that was a taikyoku only at the very beginning of its history in Japan (Sandaien), and the second a suite belonging to both the ancient and modern class of the central four (Shunnoden). The first is performed in kangen style, that is, as instrumental music with winds, strings and percussion. Lost parts of the suite have been recomposed by Sukeyasu Shiba according to a method of reconstruction that he outlines in his notes. The second is performed in classical bugaku style, that is, to accompany dance, with winds and percussion. Booklet annotation is provided by Steven G. Nelson, the only Western member on the staff a the new Research Centre for Japanese Traditional Music, Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan.

the artists

the artists

Gagaku is the oldest of Japan's performing arts, with a history of more than 1000 years, and is the oldest living ensemble music in the world. In its contemporary sense, the term gagaku signifies the whole body of classical Japanese music and dance performed by the musicians of the Kunaicho Gakubu (Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency, Tokyo). Tokyo Gakuso was founded in 1978 in response for the need for a group of expert gagaku musicians able to deal not only with traditional repertoire, but also with the challenges of contemporary pieces for the gagaku ensemble. Its forerunner, the Shigenkai, was formed in the late 1950s by musicians of the music Department (Gakubu) of the Imperial Household Agency (Kunaicho), Tokyo, as a means to promote the public's appreciation of the ancient art through activities outside their official duties at the Imperial Palace. Tokyo Gakuso was named by Toshiro Kido, at that time producer at the National Theatre in Tokyo, and its founding music director was the sho specialist and Imperial Palace musician, Tadamaro Ohno. After his death in 1994, Tadamaro Ohno's place was taken by his nephew Takaaki Ohno, the present music director. Like other members of the Imperial Palace group, Tadaaki Ohno has spent a good deal of his life studying and performing on several of the instruments, the dance, and the vocal music of gagaku. Born in Tokyo in 1959 into the Ohno family, one that traces its genealogy back to the late ninth century, and that has been involved in the hereditary transmission of the art since at least the tenth century, Tadaaki may have been fated to carry on this tradition. Since its formation, Tokyo Gakuso has been very active in the performance of new compositions, as well as long and rarely heard pieces from the classical repertoire.

Reigakusha was established in 1985 as a group of professional gagaku performers dedicated to various types of ensemble performance. It is led by its founder and music director Sukeyasu Shiba. The group does not confine itself to the performance of the classical gagaku repertoire, but also performs reconstructions of pieces lost from the traditional repertoire during the long history of the genre, as well as contemporary pieces written for the ensemble. Since its formation, Reigakusha has given regular concerts in Tokyo and other cities in Japan, and has also traveled overseas, to the United States, England, and other European countries. The name of the group, an abbreviation of Reirin Gakuyusha, is a tribute to the ancient Chinese music master Ling Lun, Reirin being the Japanese pronunciation of his name. He is said to have turned the first standard set of bamboo pitch-pipes on the order of the Yellow Emperor, the founder of the Chinese Han civilization. Sukeyasu Shiba was born in 1935 into the Shiba family, a branch of the Koma clan of gagaku musicians associated with the temple- shrine complex of Kofuku-ji/Kasuga Taisha in Nara since more than one thousand years ago. He trained and performed as a gagaku musician at the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency. He has also been active as a composer and scholar, and has devoted much of his energies to reviving lost parts of the gagaku repertoire. After leaving the palace group in 1984, he taught at several universities in the Tokyo area, and the majority of the members of Reigakusha are musicians whom he has taught during his extensive career.