"Air" - Claude Debussy and Toru Takemitsu - Yolanda Kondonassis - Oberlin 21

This (beautiful) Telarc disc is the only Takemitsu I seem to have with me in this location; a decent hunt through storage will do the trick, but I dunnoo when I'll have the time for such things right now. 

Debussy's "Danses" which I just love gets a really nice performance here, although my favorite recording of "Danses Sacree et Profane" is a Chandos recording with Yan Pascal Tortelier and the Ulster Orchestra on an all Debussy disc. The scrumptious "Sonate" for Flute, Harp and Viola is lovingly played here as well. The title "And Then I Knew 'Twas Wind" comes from a line in an Emily Dickinson poem and the composer explained that its subject was the wind not only in the natural world but also in the soul and mind. It's also scored for Flute, Harp and Viola and I imagine Takemitsu's admiration for Debussy might have been the inspiration for this most magic of instrumental combinations. Crystalline and gorgeous this work is. 

"Toward the Sea II" has a movement set unexpectedly in a New England environment; its three movements are The Night, Moby Dick and "Cape Cod". The programmatic aspect is vague, with the work evocative of the sea in Takemitsu’s advanced Zen-like tonal style, similar to Debussy in his "La Mer". Takemitsu's "Air" takes us into the interior spaces where air, as in breath, comes almost to a standstill. But it gently flows again with Debussy's Syrinx, which relates the story of a nymph who transforms herself into a reed. Enjoy..

Air.Debussy.Takemitsu.Tz.zip

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