Japanese Classics

They're beautifully crafted and carefully paced, full of shifting, slipping textures...Crucially, though, both works lack fibre...What is impressive, though, is the quality of the performances... — The Guardian, 25th April 2014, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Takemitsu's work in the final decade of his life was gentle, full of tenderness, sentiment and sighs. But he never entirely discarded the starker beauty of his earlier work. Air distills much... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

A vibrant and dramatic trio of symphonic works, exploring the virtuosic capabilities of each instrument. Climactic, intense and delivered with precision. — BBC Music Magazine, August 2018, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Exquisite static lines overlay terrifying, tectonic bass drum thwacks in Meditation — to the Victims of Tsunami 3.11, while in Nach dem Sturm two sopranos sing a Hesse poem depicting storm-battered... — Sunday Times, 1st July 2018 More…

…A Flock Descends… playing is warmly refined and Alsop's more relaxed tempos allow this dreamlike piece… a little more room to drift in its hallucinatory reverie. The same applies, with perhaps... — BBC Music Magazine, August 2006, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Under Takuo Yuasa, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra manage a delicate balance of surface and form, gracefully revealing how Mayuzumi borrowed from Western models only what he needed to best... — Gramophone Magazine, March 2006 More…