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artist: Jo Kondo
title: Chamber Music
date: 1998
label: hat[now]ART
genre: Modern Composition
rls. date: Jan-2004
tracks: 08
bitrate: 192kbps
size: 87,7 MB
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Composer Jo Kondo is one of Japan's shining lights. Earthy,
warm, and inviting, Kondo's sound world in the smaller works is
based on physical movement, like walking from one place to the
next. Rhythmic contexts are also brought into play for the
variety of sonances and nuances they pose to smaller ensembles
that might be reigned in by open space. Kondo's works typically
ù and especially those found here ù liberate the smaller works
and their ensembles by use of timbre, rhythm, and linearity; an
entire work is based upon its opening melodic line. Among the
pieces that best illustrate this method are "Walk" from 1976
and "An Elder's Hocket" from 1979. Both move straight out, ever
furthering the original melodic idea through the use of
fragmentary repetition and timbral shifts that alter color,
mood, and even shade. They are highly nuanced and bright works,
almost childlike in their singsong-y way. The Ensemble L'Art
Pour L'Art, comprised of a flute, guitar, and percussion, is
augmented here by various combinations of players, three of
them to be exact on clarinet, harp, and piano. There is one
work here written specifically for their strange makeup,
"Winsen Dance Step," from 1995. This work's unusually complex
melodic line is one that covers its harmonic body as well. The
architecture is equally dependent on the varying timbral
sonances the guitar provides as it is on the subtler sonic
shadings of the vibes and frontal lyric line of the flute.
Interestingly, this CD is far from representative of the body
of Kondo's work. The composer usually works from a larger
framework, a bigger palette of instruments and colors. These
smaller works provided a greater challenge in that they were
supposed to represent, or at least present a way into Kondo's
signature from a reduced perspective. The Ensemble L'Art Pour
L'Art has, with the help of their counterparts, accomplished
this with verve and aplomb, highlighting in micro, Kondo's
importance to the world as a composer of very human, very
perceptible yet somewhat mysteriously beautiful chamber works.
Ensemble L'Art Pour L'Art:
Matthias Kaul - percussion
Hartmut Leistritz - piano
Nele B. Nelle - clarinet
Eva Pressl - harp
Astrid Schmeling - flute
Michael Schr÷der - guitar, conducting
http://www.hathut.com/
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01-Walk [06:27]
02-An Elder's Hocket [04:02]
03-Pendulums [08:16]
04-Aquarelle [12:26]
05-Winsen Dance Step [10:17]
06-Duo [07:02]
07-Words [07:24]
08-An Insular Style [07:56]
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63:50 min
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