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lKosaku Yamada
Kosaku Yamada (山田耕筰, Yamada Kōsaku?), 9 June 1886 - 29 December 1965)
was a Japanese composer and conductor.
In many western reference books his name is given as Kósçak Yamada, a
fanciful transliteration he apparently used in the West. Yamada was born
and died in Tokyo.
After studying at the Tokyo Music School, he left Japan for Germany
where he enrolled in the Berlin Hochschule and learnt composition,
before going to the USA for two years.
Yamada left about 1600 pieces of music. Especially, songs (Lieder)
amount to 700 pieces of music excluding songs for schools,
municipalities and companies. They were performed and recorded by many
singers which include Kathleen Battle, Ernst Haefliger and Yoshikazu
Mera. His opera Kurofune (The Black Ships) is regarded as one of the
famous Japanese operas.
As a conductor, Yamada made an effort to introduce many orchestral works
to Japan. He was the first performer in Japan of Debussy's Prélude à
l'après-midi d'un faune, Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, Gershwin's An American
in Paris, Mosolov's Iron Foundry, Sibelius' Finlandia, Shostakovich's
Symphony No. 1, Johann Strauss II's An der schönen blauen Donau and
Wagner's Siegfried Idyll.
Major works
Opera
Ayame (1931)
Kurofune (The Black Ships) (1929-40)
Hsìang Fei (1946) (four acts, seven scenes with a proemnia)
Other stage works
Maria Magdarena after the drama of M. Maeterlinck (1916)
Orchestral
Overture in D major (1912)
Symphony in F major "Triumph and Peace" (1912)
The Dark Gate; symphonic poem (1913)
Sinfonia "Inno Meiji" (1921)
Nagauta Symphony "Tsurukame" for voice, shamisen and orchestra (1934)
Chamber
String Quartet No. 1 in F major
String Quartet No. 2 in G major
String Quartet No. 3 in C minor
Hochzeitsklange for piano quintet (1913)
Chanson triste japonaise for violin and piano (1921)
Suite japonaise for violin and piano (1924)
Variations on Kono-michi for flute and piano (1930)
Piano
Variationen (1912)
The Chimes of the Dawn (1916)
Les poèmes à Scriabin (1917)
Karatachi no hana [Karatachi-no-hana] for piano solo (1928)
Choral
Die Herbstfeier for mixed chorus and orchestra (1912)
Songs
Song of AIYAN (1922)
Lullaby from the Chugoku Area [Chugoku chihō no komoriuta]
Karatachi no hana [Karatachi-no-hana]
Pechika
Kono michi [This Road]
Akatombo [Red Dragonfly]
Yuu-in
Recordings
Yamada Kosak Memorial Album - Quince Blossoms - Columbia BLS-4001
(1966?) |
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