The Soul of the Koto, Vol. 2

Product Description
More classic Lyrichord koto pieces recorded in Japan by Katsumasa Takasago, featuring virtuoso performances by the legendary Master musicians of the Ikuta-Ryu. Here, the Koto is joined at times by the serene Shamisen and Shakuhachi, two other traditional ancient instruments of Japan. Another koto-lovers delight!

Tracks:

Midare
Haru No Umi
Nebiki No Matsu
Rokudan No Shirabe
Chidori No Kyoku
Soran-Bushi
Kuroda-Bushi
Niwa No Sanshu No Ki
Utsukushiki Ten-Nen
Banshu

Album Description

More classic Lyrichord koto pieces recorded in Japan by Katsumasa Takasago, featuring virtuoso performances by the legendary Master musicians of the Ikuta-Ryu. Here, the Koto is joined at times by the serene Shamisen and Shakuhachi, two other traditional ancient instruments of Japan. Another koto-lovers delight!

Customer Reviews:

A Second Helping of Koto Music for the Soul.......2006-05-22

Like its predecessor, this is truly a fine CD of koto music, again with an interesting range of musical selections. The revered classics are here, including the archetypal koto piece "Rokudan"--almost all these are compositions by Yatsuhashi Kengyo, for all intents and purposes the founder of koto music as we know it today. The folk song adaptations also show up again--many of these seem unlikely sources for the refinement of koto music (working songs of Hokkaido fishermen, samurai drinking songs), but somehow it works extremely well. One can hear the koto played together with the shamisen and the shakuhachi on a few of the pieces, too. There are also some surprises, like "Utsukushiki Tennen" (one of the first popular koto melodies of modern Japan and probably my favorite track here) and "Banshu" by a lesser known koto lineage from Kyushu. Other than this last one, the Ikuta school dominates the performance on this CD and for the most part they do a great job, but somehow the playing in "Chidori no Kyoku" sounds a little anemic.

A lot of Lyrichord's CDs are digital remasters of older albums originally released as LPs, and it's pretty clear that that's the case for this one. Therefore the sound quality isn't quite up to the current exalted standards of digital refinement. The digital remastering seems okay enough, though the sound seems just a tad dull compared to the prior "Soul of the Koto" CD. Probably there's no helping this. Still, the CD is more than listenable and has stuff that just cannot be found elsewhere, and the quality of musicianship on this album more often than not makes up for the minor technological deficiencies.

World Music:

World Music

world music

World Music

Rats [Import]

Greatest Classical Composers: Tchaikovsky

Elgar/Britten:Orchestral Works

Swing Tanzen Verboten!: Swing Music and Nazi Propaganda

Holiday Hit Mix 2005 [Import]

I Wanna Sex You Up [CD-single]

Grandes Exitos

Rap Music rap_music_63

Haunting Conviction [Explicit Lyrics]

George Antheil: The Complete Works for String Quartet

Holiday [CD-single] [Import]

New Age Music: 40 Years Jubilee [Import]

Latin Stars Orchestra - Ballads of Greatest Hits

Something Wonderful

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