An incredible collection of intriguing pieces. The soul seems to soar when listening to this collection of Sawai’s works. A must have!
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This album is a remarkable listening experience. Elizabeth Falconer has been performing and recording compelling music for the koto, a Japanese zither, for many years, but this series of recordings of compositions by her teacher Sawai Tadao stands out to me. Two volumes of (what I assume will be) a 4-volume series are available, and both contain dramatic, charismatic contemporary Japanese music. If you have heard traditional Japanese music for strings, be prepared for a shock. The compositions here are full of suspense, shifting moods, and a dramatic intensity that exceeded my expectations.   

Just the sounds alone create evocative combinations: Elizabeth is joined at times by her husband John Falconer (and other half of Duo En) on the shakuhachi bamboo flute, and the complicated musical dialogue between the crisp, rhythmic koto and fluid shakuhachi is realized expertly. Likewise for a collaboration between Elizabeth and violinist Tari Nelson-Zagar, which again takes advantage of the contrast between two very distinct sounding instruments. 

Nothing on this album is more enjoyable than the cinematic experience it offers. The fact that such abstract music is capable of providing such a vivid emotional impact should be credited to Tadao's dynamic compositional imagination, and to his student Elizabeth's ability to bring that imagination to life in her performance of his music. Tori No Yo-Li (Like a Bird) serves as a prime example of the cinematic qualities of Tadao's contemporary vision. Elizabeth's playing is affecting and impossibly evocative in this piece, which depicts a bird in flight. The turmoil, excitement, and soaring elegance of this piece of music immediately captures the imagination and puts you in the center of the experience of flight. 

Elizabeth's playing seems to extend the possibilities of the koto. Her collaborators on this project, including John Falconer, Tari Nelson-Zagar, vocalist Jessica Kenney, and Brian Falconer (John and Elizabeth's son) create such an expanded and subtle musical pallet that it seems altogether otherwordly at times. The result is a remarkable tribute to the innovations of Tadao, and a remarkable vision for contemporary Japanese music.
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