Austrian guitarist Franz Halász displays a fine sense of tone and pacing in this revealing overview of Takemitsu's solo guitar music. Takemitsu wrote for the concert stage in an original avant-garde idiom, created over 100 film soundtracks, and produced arrangements of Japanese folk tunes and Western popular music. This range, except for the soundtracks, is represented here. The title tracks are from the concert work All in Twilight -- Four pieces for guitar (1987), inspired by Paul Klee's painting of the same name. Here Halász's beautiful touch is shown in contrasting and subtle timbres on the composer's rich, jazz-like harmonies, sometimes brooding, sometimes in quickly flowing passages like those of the third movement. Next, the first six of "12 Songs" introduces some technically challenging, but aesthetically straightforward arrangements -- Sammy Fain's classic Secret Love, four tunes by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and George Gershwin's Summertime in which Takemitsu spectacularly manages to reduce the best orchestral parts to the limits of the guitar and to improvise in a free-flowing manner. Lennon-McCartney's Hey Jude is given some delightful new harmonies and counterpoint. Equinox (1993) follows, built on an ascending and descending curve that suggests both the circular motions of planets and the cyclic nature of the seasons. The three early Folios (1974) glide celestially with Impressionist chords, suggestions of rain, and striking re-settings of fragments from J. S. Bach. Likewise, In the Woods --Three pieces for guitar (1995) contrasts modal melodies with complex harmonies. Six more of the popular "12 Songs" follow; especially notable are the snappy runs of Converse's What A Friend (We Have in Jesus) and a strangely nostalgic setting of Degeyter's The Internationale. The concluding piece is a lovely arrangement of Reed and Mason's The Last Waltz. by "Blue" Gene Tyranny
Tracklist:
Subete wa usuakari no naka de (All in Twilight)
1. I. --2:34
2. II. Dark 2:48
3. III. --1:41
4. IV. Slightly Fast 2:17
Gita no tame no juni no uta (12 Songs for Guitar)
5. Secret Love (Sammy Fain) 2:22
6. Yesterday (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) 3:03
7. Hey Jude (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) 3:00
8. Michelle (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) 3:00
9. Here, There and Everywhere (John Lennon and Paul McCartney) 2:58
10. Summertime (George Gershwin)3:33
11. Equinox 4:48
Folios
12. I. --2:11
13. II. --2:21
14. III. --2:21
Mori no naka de (In the Woods)
15. I. Wainscot Pond - after a painting by Cornelia Foss 2:58
16. II. Rosedale 3:18
17. III. Muir Woods 4:21
Gita no tame no juni no uta (12 Songs for Guitar)
18. A Song of early Spring (Akira Nakada) 2:53
19. What a Friend (Charles C. Converse) 2:27
20. Amours Perdues (Joseph Kosma) 2:24
21. Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen) 2:13
22. The International (Pierre Degeyter) 1:50
23. Londonderry Air (Irish Folk-song)2:51
LOU REED
24. The Last Waltz (arr. T. Takemitsu) 3:04
Solo: Franz Halász Soloist
