DOUBLE PORTRAIT: TAKEMITSU – TAKAHASΗI / CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE MUSIC RECITAL WITH NATALIA GERAKIS AND PAVLOS ANTONIADIS

PRODUCTION OF THESSALONIKI CONCERT HALL 

As part of the celebratory events promoted by the EMBASSY OF JAPAN IN GREECE on the occasion of “2024: Year of Culture and Tourism between Japan and Greece” 

The programme that will be presented is a double portrait of composers Tōru Takemitsu and Yuji Takahashi. The “Double Portrait: Takemitsu – Takahashi/Contemporary Japanese Music Recital” is realized in collaboration with the Contemporary Music Laboratory of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, one of the most prominent centers for research and dissemination of the music of the 20th and 21st century in Greece. The aim is to enhance intercultural dialogue and communicate Japanese art to the Greek musical community. The exceptional flute soloist Natalia Gerakis, tutor at the State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart, joins forces with the renowned pianist and professor at the University of Ioannina, Pavlos Antoniadis, in a repertoire that is both novel and demanding. 

PROGRAMME 

Part A 

Tōru Takemitsu (1930-1996) 

Voice for flute (1971) 

Erik Satie (1866-1925)/Tōru Takemitsu 

Le Fils des Étoiles – Prélude du 1er Acte ‘La Vocation’ 

Stage music by Erik Satie (1891) 

arranged by Takemitsu for flute and harp (1975) 

(version for flute and piano/adaptation for piano: Pavlos Antoniadis) 

Yūji Takahashi (1938) 

Three Poems of Mao Tse-Tung for piano (1975) 

Tōru Takemitsu 

Toward the Sea I for alto flute and guitar (1981) 

(version for alto flute and piano/adaptation for piano: Pavlos Antoniadis) 

Part B 

Tōru Takemitsu 

Piano Distance for piano (1961) 

Tōru Takemitsu 

Air for flute (1995) 

Yūji Takahashi (1938) 

Chromamorphe II for piano (1964) 

Yūji Takahashi 

Ji(t) for flute and piano (1978) 

Flutist Natalia Gerakis and pianist Pavlos Antoniadis probe the work of two pioneering composers of post-war Japan, presenting a programme that explores different dimensions of their artistic creation and seeks to reveal traces of their relationship. 

Tōru Takemitsu assimilated the philosophies of the East and the West, drawing on contrasts (silence-sound, light-twilight, tradition-innovation) and the forces of nature as the building blocks of his work. For Takemitsu, the creation of a musical idiom that was highly personal, yet universal in scope, was an existential endeavour. 

The musical pursuits of pianist and composer Yūji Takahashi show a remarkable range. Αs a performer draws both from classical and contemporary piano repertoire, as demonstrated by his extensive discography, while his compositions –especially those of his early artistic period– are influenced by his teacher Iannis Xenakis. Upon his return and permanent settlement in Japan in 1972, he writes political protest songs and explores the use of traditional Japanese instruments, as well as multimedia. Takahashi remains a tireless experimenter and political activist. He has collaborated with Tōru Takemitsu and performed his works. 

The fusion of Japanese tradition with contemporary Western art was a common element in the work of Takemitsu and Takahashi. For both artists, intellectual creation manifested itself as an absolute necessity, the preeminent means of signification in a lifelong existential quest. Their artistic collaboration lasted for three particularly productive years, and despite their fluctuating relationship, their spiritual bond remained deep. 

Natalia Gerakis flute/alto flute 

Pavlos Antoniadis piano