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 mp3 (32kbps) audio |
| [ 1 ] Libretto on a Dreamy Vision (solo flute & orchestra) | LISTEN |
| Memory of Time (orchestra) | |
| [ 2 ] (Excerpt 1) | LISTEN |
| [ 3 ] (Excerpt 2) | LISTEN |
| [ 4 ] (Excerpt 3) | LISTEN |
| [ 5 ] A Poetic Grace (solo 20 string koto & orchestra) | LISTEN |
| Elms bathed in sunshine... (solo piano & orchestra) | |
| [ 6 ] (movt. 1) | LISTEN |
| [ 7 ] (movt. 2) | LISTEN |
| [ 8 ] (movt. 3) | LISTEN |
Libretto on a Dreamy Vision for Flute and Orchestra was written and premiered in 1993 through the Orchestra Project by flutist Hiroaki Masunaga and Kazuhiko Komatsu, conductor. Flute is Yanagida's favorite instrument and clearly dominates his catalogue. Prior to Libretto..., Aubade for Flute and String Orchestra was his best known flute score. Following no specific program, Libretto... envisions the unrolling of a pictorial scroll, reflecting mutations of an intrinsically Japanese melodic tenor, unfolding over time, within the flux of orchestral sonorities.
Memory of Time for Orchestra was also written for the Orchestra Project and premiered in its 1999 concert by The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra under Kazuyoshi Akiyama. It received the Award of Excellence during the National Art Festival, sponsored by the Japanese Government's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The work is for flute, oboe, and clarinet soloists, positioned at the center of the orchestra, not unlike a European Baroque concertino. As for the work's development from its central theme, Yanagida writes, "I wanted to adopt into my musical work an aesthetic more akin to poetic structure and sensitivity, in particular of tanka, and haiku - poetic forms both deeply reflective of Japanese artistic sentiments." First the three soloists play the theme, which is then transfigured through the orchestra, as each solo instrument joins the ensemble and their aggregate 'song' flows through time into the depths of memory.
A Poetic Grace for 20-string Koto and Orchestra was commissioned by Noriko Sanagi, of Sapporo, who premiered it in 2000 with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kazuhiko Komatsu, on a special concert: Twentieth Century Japanese Composers. In the composer's words, "I've envisioned, rather than the usual Western-style concerto that may emphasize contrast and tonal individuality, an imaginary pure realm called rikugo, hidden mysteriously within e known cosmos - a concept of ancient Chinese origin. A solo instrument, bearing the 'song,' emerges from the encompassing sonority. Again we are asked to contemplate the literary aspect: what may be the orchestral music that emanates from the tradition of Japanese prosody?"
Elms bathed in sunshine...for Piano and Orchestra was written and premiered at the 2001 Orchestra Project Concert by pianist Yukine Uehara and The Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama. Representing a 'poem,' the work consists of three movements where the circulating themes transfigure within each movement. The work presages an aesthetic turn toward structure and style more Western than in any of Yanagida's previous publications. In 2004, three years after writing Elms..., the composer published his Piano Concerto No. 2, Transfiguration of Dreams, which revealed a shift in musical perspective from essentially Asian to a more Western display of a heightened sense of freedom. In the title the 'Elms' are in Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, where the composer was born. The title recollects where he passed in his youth, meditating on music while bathed in the sunlight spilling off the leaves of those elms.