Gagaku and Beyond: Frozen Time?

Finally I find some time to post something again - so I better make it special: Great music from Japan in an excellent production. Enjoy. 

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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 is a relatively young group, 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 founding music director was the sho specialist and Imperial Palace musician, Tadamaro Ohno. After his death in 1994, his place was taken by his nephew Tadaaki Ohno. 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. 

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. This CD marks the first time that the musicians of the Imperial Court of Tokyo have recorded for a non–Japanese record label.

The pieces on this CD, performed by a full gagaku orchestra of up to 16 musicians and 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 is made up of a kangen performance, the second half is composed of a bugaku performance, with two dances as a rule: a togaku (or 'Left') dance followed by a komagaku (or 'Right') dance (on the CD we have the togaku dance Ryoo and the komagaku dance Hassen). The program finishes with the rhythmic togaku piece Chogeishi, which is traditionally played at the conclusion of a dance performance. 

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"This court music is a block of sound; it does not move but allows other things to move through it." 

William P. Malm, "Traditional Japanese Music and Musical Instruments", Kodansha International

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