Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Once the West and Japan were not familiar with one another. But today, in the 21st century, the two worlds which are so very different can come a little closer to each other. We learn, wonder, and discover different cultures, lifestyles, nature, architecture, images and sounds. Fumio Yasuda’s music comes from modern Japan, which already opened up to the West in the 18th century. Yasuda studied classical music with a preference for Karl Amadeus Hartmann. From childhood he grew up with Western pop and jazz music, yet was still deeply rooted in the Japanese tradition. Time, space, and infinity play an important role in his music. In his scores there are no pause signs like in Western music, but signs of silence between lyrical, deeply poetic tones and chords that tell stories about Japanese landscapes, rain, forests, fog, longings and eternity. Yasuda works in a deep musical understanding with Joachim Badenhorst, Nobuyoshi Ino and Akimuse. His gentle piano sounds unite with the sounds of the clarinet, the plucked bass strings, and the tender voice of Akimuse.

The ensemble "Die Freitagsakademie" was founded in Bern 1993. The name originates from one of the first establishments of middle-class music life in the Berlin of the 18th century: the FREITAGSAKADEMIEN, founded by Johann Gottlieb Janitsch in 1738. The Berlin society met regularly to make music together in a semi-public or private setting. The Freitagsakademien enjoyed an outstanding reputation and attracted musicians of the most varied origins.

With its roots in Egyptian and Mesopotamian love poetry and fertility rites, the Song of Songs is the greatest pæan to human love in ancient literature. Its verses describe a love song from man to woman to man, flitting between lover and beloved in a mosaic of iridescent, enigmatic imagery familiar from its co-option into Judaeo-Christian religious traditions and a millennium of European musical settings. Re-reading teh Songs as literature today seems only to emphasize its sharpness and extremity: the inexhaustible overabundance of metaphor and its patchwork construction give it a decidedly modern edge. I designed a set of pieces with a variety of vocal orchestrations, each channelling the canon's intrinsic momentum in different ways: creating proliferating, growing textures, or shifting densities of sound like passing clouds, or folding the canon back on itself into more static or circling formations. I collated the texts from all over the poem, often bringing together related phrases that appear in different chapters of the Song. Each piece takes a nature-image from its text as a basis for its structure and overall character. I imagine each piece as taking place in real-time, like an unedited film. In that time the steady-state textures change gradually: the sun increasingly catches the leaves of teh plans over the eight minutes of the first piece; the wind rises and falls across the span of the second piece, and in the last there are slight, unpredictable fluctuations of gently rustling foliage. - James Weeks

Classical Music

You can practically close your eyes and you’re there… Schumann’s Bar is the meeting place for night owls, for minds who wants to avoids the light, for people who enjoy a good drink, wish to hear the latest gossip and talk to friends, for beautiful girls of the city of Munich and last, but not least a place for sound producer Stefan Winter to search for soundscapes, music and entertainment. Also this time Stefan Winter follows his artistic credo to find and record a place with a special and authentic ambience. He collects at Schumann’s Bar with his microphone the atmosphere with sounds of music. Schumann’s Bar is the perfect meeting place in the middle of Munich. Charles Schumann runs this famous hotspot, without any doubt the most popular bar in Munich, meeting place for celebrities and people who love excellent cocktails. Fumio Yasuda has the more thankless task to take over the role of the bar-pianist. He has no problem to fulfill the music requests of the guests. A selection of famous international film hits can be heard, like "Gone with the Wind" and "Charade“, but also known jazz pieces like "Just squeeze me" and successful musical songs like "Somewhere over the Rainbow.” This is wonderful background music and soundscapes for pure entertainment and easy listening.

On the occasion of Erik Satie's 150th birthday, Fumio Yasuda embarks on a quest for hidden works of music and adapts rarely performed compositions for his piano trio: pieces that are well worth their discovery! Following a tour through Spain and France, Yasuda recorded this album in Bordeaux in October, 2016. In the early 20th century, Erik Satie was part of the Dadaist circle of artists in Paris. He worked with René Clair, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Léonide Massine, Man Ray and, most importantly, Jean Cocteau. Fumio Yasuda selected Satie's music for René Clair's filme masterpieces "Entr'acte" as well as the works "Dance de travers" and "Airs à faire fuir" from "“Pièces froides" and several additional compositions to arrange and interpret them in a completely new style. Satie has an entirely different view from many of his colleagues: He is convinced that a composer has no right to waste the time his audience dedicates to him. And so he develops his idea of background music - and calls it "Musique d'ameublement" (which translates approximately as "Music as furniture", or "Musical furniture"). Music is meant to be in a room just like a table or a chair. Satie rejects finesse and virtuosity. "Everyone will tell you that I'm not a musician. And they're right." Satie has a very special place in the history of music. Without seeming obtrusive, Fumio Yasuda bows to Erik Satie and shows his respect fo rthe great master, who so often is little appreciated since his compositional style is misunderstood or his oeuvre reduced to a few popular pieces. For many listeners, some pieces will be a new discovery, thanks to Fumio Yasuda's selection.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Mohr: Briefe aus dem Exil Shanghai und das Einhorn

One of the most famous pieces in the piano literature is Ludwig van Beethoven's Fur Elise. But what if originally the work was called "For Therese?" Every work of music is in some way relational, and since Beethoven, when he was 40, fell in love with 19-year-old Therese Malfatti, it seems logical. Similarly, Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated the "Prelude and Fugue in C Major" to his deep love Anna Magdalena. This musical journey takes us on a journey through time to explore these and similar relationships. Japanese pianist Masako Ohta devotes herself to classical and contemporary classical music. She studied piani at the Toho Gakuen School of Music, the University of the Arts Berlin, and with Gyorgy Sebok, Andras Schiff, and Gyorgy Kurtag. She compiled the musical declarations of love for this album alongside producer Stefan Winter.

Istanbul is the interface between orient and occident. The noises and urban sounds in connection with Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish and Macedonian songs as well as nomad chants belong to the culture of Istanbul like the centuries old architecture in the city. Some notable artists featured on this album include Volkan Yilmaz, who was born in Istanbul and studied at the Istanbul Conservatory under Fuat Tukelman and Salih Bilgin and began his career as a soloist at the radio station Istabul TRT, Gulay Diri, who was born in Southern Turkey where semi-nomadic people continue their lifestyle and she was influenced by their folk music, and Muammer Ketencoglu, who is an internationally renowned musician and one of the foremost Turkish artists performing today. These are folk songs, modern compositions, nomadic chants, and improvisations, all brought together to paint an aural portrait of this ancient city.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music