Piano Concerto No. 3 (Ohzawa)

Last updated September 16, 2019

The Piano Concerto No. 3 in A-flat major is a piano concerto composed by Japanese composer Hisato Ohzawa. This work is subtitled Kamikaze after the aircraft Kamikaze, and was premiered under the baton of the composer on June 24, 1938, by the Takarazuka Symphony Orchestra, with Maxim Shapiro at the piano.^[1]

A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the Classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpieces which require an advanced level of technique on the instrument, including melodic lines interspersed with rapid scales, arpeggios, chords, complex contrapuntal parts and other challenging material. When piano concertos are performed by a professional concert pianist, a large grand piano is almost always used, as the grand piano has a fuller tone and more projection than an upright piano. Piano concertos are typically written out in music notation, including sheet music for the pianist, orchestra parts for the orchestra members, and a full score for the conductor, who leads the orchestra in the accompaniment of the soloist.

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asian continent and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and the Philippine Sea in the south.

A composer is a musician who is an author of music in any form, including vocal music, instrumental music, electronic music, and music which combines multiple forms. A composer may create music in any music genre, including, for example, classical music, musical theatre, blues, folk music, jazz, and popular music. Composers often express their works in a written musical score using musical notation.

A suicide attack is any violent attack in which the attacker accepts their own death as a direct result of the method used to harm, damage or destroy the target. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout history, often as part of a military campaign such as the Japanese kamikaze pilots of World War II, and more recently as part of terrorist campaigns, such as the September 11 attacks.

Kamikaze, officially Tokubetsu Kōgekitai, were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who initiated suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy warships more effectively than possible with conventional air attacks. About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed by kamikaze attacks.

The Empire of Japan was the historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 to the enactment of the 1947 constitution of modern Japan.

This work was not successful partly because the progressive style of Ohzawa was beyond the comprehension of audiences of those days. Although the recording was broadcast on radio after the premiere, this concerto, quite demanding for both performer and audience, was not performed again for a long time. The composer's family published the score of this work on their own after his death.

Structure

The work consists of three traditional movements. Although the concerto is marked as A-flat, but he treated the tonality considerably freely.

The first movement, allegro assai, begins with the declaration, by trombones and strings, of "motto for whole work", three notes; A-flat, E-flat and F, which later appear as the fundamental elements of this work written in sonata form. First subject is gathered motives which remind the audiences of the aircraft flying through the clouds. The second subject is the melody savage as well as brilliant. Throughout the development, the music never fails to recall the sky journey. In the short coda, long tone of piccolo sounds as the aircraft flying away.

Sonata form is a musical structure consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th century.

In music, a coda[ˈkoːda] is a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence. It may be as simple as a few measures, or as complex as an entire section.

The piccolo is a half-size flute, and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. The modern piccolo has most of the same fingerings as its larger sibling, the standard transverse flute, but the sound it produces is an octave higher than written. This gave rise to the name ottavino, which the instrument is called in the scores of Italian composers. It is also called flauto piccolo or flautino.

The beginning of the G major second movement, andante cantabile, by saxophone is notable and the movement is jazzy rather than classical. Ohzawa utilized pentatonic scale in light of similarity to blues, consequently the music succeeds in displaying delicate oriental mood even in jazzy atmosphere. This is induced from "motto" exhibited in the first movement. The movement of ternary form ends by melting into dream.

The saxophone is a family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. Although most saxophones are made from brass, they are categorized as woodwind instruments, because sound is produced by an oscillating reed, traditionally made out of woody cane, rather than lips vibrating in a mouthpiece cup as with the brass instrument family. As with the other woodwinds, the pitch of the note being played is controlled by covering holes in the body tube to control the resonant frequency of the air column by changing the effective length of the tube.

Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, United States. It originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in blues and ragtime. Jazz is seen by many as "America's classical music". Since the 1920s Jazz Age, jazz has become recognized as a major form of musical expression. It then emerged in the form of independent traditional and popular musical styles, all linked by the common bonds of African-American and European-American musical parentage with a performance orientation. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as "one of America's original art forms".

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five notes per octave, in contrast to the heptatonic scale more familiar to Western tradition that has seven notes per octave.

The third movement, allegro moderato, is the finale with introduction, rondo of scherzando rhythm and coda. Wood winds also play toccata in this movement. The sudden invasion of cabaret-like tune obviously suggests the approaching of aircraft to its destination. The cadenza of soloist is followed by recapitulation of the main subject. Restless coda representing the sound of engine by strings leads the unexpectedly sudden finish of the concerto. Pianistic virtuosity and modern style of composer peak in this movement.

Rondo and its French part-equivalent, rondeau, are words that have been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form but also to a character type that is distinct from the form.

Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the more general category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed instruments. What differentiates these instruments from other wind instruments is the way in which they produce their sound. All woodwinds produce sound by splitting an exhaled air stream on a sharp edge, such as a reed or a fipple. A woodwind may be made of any material, not just wood. Common examples include brass, silver, cane, as well as other metals such as gold and platinum. Occasionally woodwinds are made out of earthen materials, especially ocarinas.

Toccata is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtuosic passages or sections, with or without imitative or fugal interludes, generally emphasizing the dexterity of the performer's fingers. Less frequently, the name is applied to works for multiple instruments.

Recording

Ekaterina Saranceva (Piano), Dmitry Yablonsky (conductor), Russian Philharmonic Orchestra Naxos 8.557416J

Dmitry Albertovich Yablonsky is a Russian classical cellist and conductor, who was educated at the Juilliard School of Music and Yale University.

The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra based in Moscow. Recordings of the orchestra have been released on Deutsche Grammophon and Naxos Records, amongst others.

Naxos is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern time was one of the best abrasives available.

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References

↑ "OHZAWA: Piano Concerto No. 3, 'Kamikaze' Symphony No. 3". Naxos Direct. Naxos. Retrieved 25 June 2019.

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[1] "OHZAWA: Piano Concerto No. 3, 'Kamikaze' Symphony No. 3". Naxos Direct. Naxos. Retrieved 25 June 2019.

Piano Concerto No. 3 (Ohzawa)

Contents

Structure

Recording

Related Research Articles

References