Improvised Music from Japan / IMJ

Raku Sugifatti
(Radu Malfatti and Taku Sugimoto)

Futatsu

(Improvised Music from Japan, IMJ-508/9)
Released in December 2003
Purchase price in Japan: 2,500 yen (tax not included)
(For purchase outside of Japan, prices vary.)


Disc 1

  1. Hitotsu (71:18)

    Guitar:
    Recorded by Taku Sugimoto in Tokyo, April 2003
    Edited by Taku Sugimoto and Taku Unami in Tokyo, May 2003
    Trombone:
    Recorded by Josef Novotny in Vienna, July 2003

    Mixed by Radu Malfatti in Vienna, July-August 2003

Disc 2

  1. Rhiz [Chazz #2] (41:31)
    Recorded live by Taku Sugimoto at Rhiz in Vienna on June 2, 2003

  2. Appel (32:15)
    Recorded live by Tetuzi Akiyama at Appel in Tokyo on December 4, 2002

    mp3 excerpt: disc 2, track 2

Vienna resident Radu Malfatti, who turns 60 in December, is a trombonist and composer with a long and impressive career. In the nineties he established the unique compositional/improvisational style, using very few sounds, that he continues to develop. Thirty-something guitarist Taku Sugimoto has since the late nineties followed a similar path, pursuing a playing style marked by extreme sonic spareness. His work has received critical acclaim in Japan and abroad and has greatly influenced many young Japanese musicians. Their 20-plus-year age difference notwithstanding, these two artists have made a powerful impact with their duo performances in Austria and their first Japan tour in December 2002.

Futatsu is a two-CD set bringing together one studio piece and two live-performance recordings. The former is a mix (by Malfatti) of recordings the two made separately this year in Tokyo and Vienna. The live recordings are of peformances that took place this year in Vienna and on last year's Japan tour. In the studio work, sounds are set down one by one on a background of absolute silence. Despite settings that take in background noise and the sound of passing cars, their live performances are as quiet as ever. This amazing recording will give you a new perspective on the relationship between sound and silence.


Last updated: December 7, 2003

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