Description

Taro Wayama & Thomas Foster,  “Transatlantique”

Track List:

01  Sonata Transatlantique:  Fox-Trot
02  Sonata Transatlantique:  Spiritual/Blues
03  Sonata Transatlantique:  Charleston
04  Sanzen-In
05  The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1,  Prelude No. 1 in C Major,  BWV 846
06  The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1,  Fugue No.1 in C Major,  BWV 846
07  Bad Boys
08  A Boy Named Hiroshima
09  The Death of Queen Jane
10  Barbara Allen
11  My Last Farewell to Sterling
12  The Fool On the Hill

Author’s Note:

“As I searched for pieces for the album,  Transatlantique,  I thought it would be interesting to perform works which are not part of the ordinary guitar repertoire.  I searched for pieces with multi-cultural backgrounds arrangements of works originally written for other instruments.

The first selection,  the Sonata Transatlantique,  was suggested by my university professor,  James Smith,  who also arranged the piece.  Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986) wrote the Sonata Transatlantique as an homage to 1920s American music.  Tansman travelled to New York with his friend Maurice Ravel.  Together they visited jazz clubs,  and were inspired by what they heard.  As Tansman returned to Paris,  he wrote this three movement solo piano piece.  The first movement is a Fox-Trot,  in which he quotes a theme by Scott Joplin,  the second is a Spiritual/Blues,  and the third is a fast Charleston dance number.

As a Japanese,  I enjoy performing works by Japanese composers or pieces inspired by beautiful Japanese settings.  We selected two works by the leading Japanese composer of the 20th century,  Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996),  Bad Boys (1961) and A Boy Named Hiroshima (1987).  Takemitsu is mostly known for his avant-garde techniques and use of traditional Japanese musical ideas/instruments.  However, not many are aware that he contributed considerably to film music.

Andrew York’s Sanzen-in expresses the meditative ambience of the Sanzen-in temple in Kyoto,  Japan.  York is an eclectic composer who draws on rock,  pop,  jazz,  folk,  and classical.  This is a piece that joins musical ideas of pop,  Japanese,  classical,  with Balinese Gamalan.

Although Bach’s work is neither cross-cultural nor foreign to the guitar,  the Prelude and Fugue from the Well-Tempered Clavier was included in the album simply because we love it.  The wonderful and unique arrangement is the work of Professor James Smith.

To add non-classical flair,  three folksongs and a rock song were included in the program.  I choose three wonderful English folksong arrangements by Edward Flower:  The Death of Queen Jane,  Barbara Allen,  and My Last Farewell to Sterling.  Flower infuses these songs with modern harmonic language without omitting the soulful,  plaintive,  and melancholy mood of traditional English songs.

The partnership of two greats can never go wrong.  We closed the program with The Fool on the Hill by the Beatles and arranged by the most famous guitar composer of the 20th century,  Leo Brouwer.”

Taro Wayama