Sadly I cannot fit all of the album notes that Yoshimatsu included had with the album. I've had to condense it down a bit so it fits RUclips's word limit but it still nonetheless has his overview of the album and its purpose. I will include all the notes about the songs here in this comment if you wish to see his thoughts for each work. “The Forgetful Angel” is the title of a sketch done in pen and ink, by Paul Klee. It is a simple and seemingly endless line drawing an angel which, for some reason, I have always been partial to. After becoming a composer, I decided early on to name my first commissioned work and, then the series following, after it. The work is comprised of two parts: the first called “Count Angel” and the second “Recount Angel”. The first is an impromptu-like piece in which both stillness and movement, and consonance and dissonance intermingle. The second is a technically challenging unaccompanied solo piece which begins as a jazz-inspired allegro racing crazily along and then ending with its consonant melody melting away to the tinkle of small bells. The work was commissioned by Harada Isao and made its debut on November 28, 1978, at a private concert entitled “The Life and Times of Sakimoto Joe” held at the Iwasaki Chihiro Art Gallery. It was revived in 1980, and in 1983, I completed an arrangement for the violin. Forgetful Angel is dedicated to both Sakimoto Joe and Harada Isao. Here below are a few lines I penned and included with the score: “Lives are counted by a forgetful Angel. An angel who allows people to live, and then innocently forgets that it has ... Even so, in some unremembered place between the "Count Angel" and the "Recount Angel", Life continued to spin with all its power and might, emitting a faint spectrum of light. But death, death is counted by a God who never forgets. Forgetful God does not exist.” Forgetful Angel II was composed a year after Forgetful Angel I on a commission from Sakimoto, under the assumption that he would perform it as a duet with his close friend and guitarist Hoshido Mikio. The work is again comprised of two parts - the first piece is entitled “An Angel Counts Fragments of Cloud While Pretending to Watch Me” and the second “An Angel is Gleaming in the Rainbow While Waiting for Me”. The first piece is a dance. It is an interplay of the stillness and movement, making extensive use of the layered sounds of the mouth organ and the harmonic method of the guitar. The second describes a delicate, invisible angel who dances quietly ringing small bells all the while. This work was debuted on July 11, 1979, during the “Sakimoto Joe Concert Series” at the Ichigaya Lutheran Center. Forgetful Angel III was created for a duo recital by Sakimoto Joe and the accordionist Miki Mie. In contrast to the rather quiet Forgetful Angel II, III dances with abandon, like the rhythms of a wild carnival in a far away land. The composition is comprised of three parts. The first is an invention mechanical rhythm in which the harmonica and accordion seem to be in a heated competition, setting off an explosion of fireworks. The second is a nocturne in which we hear the two instruments sighing rapturously in the darkness of the night and the third is a rondo in which a giddy rhythm spins them round and round and round again. The work as a whole gives the impression of a three-act puppet play - a drama performed by marionettes. It was debuted on March 7, 1986, during the “Miki Mie and Sakimoto Joe Recital” at the Recital Hall of the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan. Alignment Romance is a quiet work which sings of the romance created by the slow intertwining of five musical strands - in this case, a harmonica and four stringed instruments. It was taken from Pleaides Dances II (1987) and was originally written for the piano. It was arranged here for a soloist and string quartet. Melting Dream is an interlude for piano and violin taken from the piano quartet Alrisha (1987). On the serene yet constant piano chords, the harmonica weaves a grand melody, making use of its full range. Dream-Colored Mobile is an air in which the harmonica seems to endlessly sing of a flickering dream. It's sounds are layered on a mobile of sixteenth notes played on the piano and the floating harmony of strings. The original work was composed in 1993 for saxophone, harp and string quartet Four Little Dream Songs is a diminutive version of “Four Seasons”. Here spring is represented by “Dream Song in May”, summer by “Crooked Waltz in August”, fall by “Dream Song in November” and winter by “Lullaby”. The composition is a compilation of melodies I wrote for radio programs and short stage works. It was first arranged in its four-part form for guitar in 1997, and was recored by Fukuda Shinichi on his album “Tender Toys”. Here you hear an arrangement for harmonica and Piano. Tender Toys is a collection of works comprised of 11 solos and seven duets written for the guitar between 1983 and 1984. A suite comprised of pieces of this collection and arranged for harmonica and accordion has been performed on numerous occasions by Sakimoto Joe and Miki Mie. The selections included here - “Rimse” and “Velvet Waltz” - are two taken from that suite, but newly arranged for this album. They are performed here by a string quartet
Sadly I cannot fit all of the album notes that Yoshimatsu included had with the album. I've had to condense it down a bit so it fits RUclips's word limit but it still nonetheless has his overview of the album and its purpose. I will include all the notes about the songs here in this comment if you wish to see his thoughts for each work.
“The Forgetful Angel” is the title of a sketch done in pen and ink, by Paul Klee. It is a simple and seemingly endless line drawing an angel which, for some reason, I have always been partial to. After becoming a composer, I decided early on to name my first commissioned work and, then the series following, after it.
The work is comprised of two parts: the first called “Count Angel” and the second “Recount Angel”. The first is an impromptu-like piece in which both stillness and movement, and consonance and dissonance intermingle. The second is a technically challenging unaccompanied solo piece which begins as a jazz-inspired allegro racing crazily along and then ending with its consonant melody melting away to the tinkle of small bells. The work was commissioned by Harada Isao and made its debut on November 28, 1978, at a private concert entitled “The Life and Times of Sakimoto Joe” held at the Iwasaki Chihiro Art Gallery. It was revived in 1980, and in 1983, I completed an arrangement for the violin.
Forgetful Angel is dedicated to both Sakimoto Joe and Harada Isao. Here below are a few lines I penned and included with the score:
“Lives are counted by a forgetful Angel.
An angel who allows people to live, and then innocently forgets that it has ...
Even so, in some unremembered place between the "Count Angel" and the "Recount Angel",
Life continued to spin with all its power and might, emitting a faint spectrum of light.
But death, death is counted by a God who never forgets.
Forgetful God does not exist.”
Forgetful Angel II was composed a year after Forgetful Angel I on a commission from Sakimoto, under the assumption that he would perform it as a duet with his close friend and guitarist Hoshido Mikio. The work is again comprised of two parts - the first piece is entitled “An Angel Counts Fragments of Cloud While Pretending to Watch Me” and the second “An Angel is Gleaming in the Rainbow While Waiting for Me”.
The first piece is a dance. It is an interplay of the stillness and movement, making extensive use of the layered sounds of the mouth organ and the harmonic method of the guitar. The second describes a delicate, invisible angel who dances quietly ringing small bells all the while. This work was debuted on July 11, 1979, during the “Sakimoto Joe Concert Series” at the Ichigaya Lutheran Center.
Forgetful Angel III was created for a duo recital by Sakimoto Joe and the accordionist Miki Mie. In contrast to the rather quiet Forgetful Angel II, III dances with abandon, like the rhythms of a wild carnival in a far away land. The composition is comprised of three parts. The first is an invention mechanical rhythm in which the harmonica and accordion seem to be in a heated competition, setting off an explosion of fireworks. The second is a nocturne in which we hear the two instruments sighing rapturously in the darkness of the night and the third is a rondo in which a giddy rhythm spins them round and round and round again.
The work as a whole gives the impression of a three-act puppet play - a drama performed by marionettes. It was debuted on March 7, 1986, during the “Miki Mie and Sakimoto Joe Recital” at the Recital Hall of the Tokyo Bunka Kaikan.
Alignment Romance is a quiet work which sings of the romance created by the slow intertwining of five musical strands - in this case, a harmonica and four stringed instruments. It was taken from Pleaides Dances II (1987) and was originally written for the piano. It was arranged here for a soloist and string quartet.
Melting Dream is an interlude for piano and violin taken from the piano quartet Alrisha (1987). On the serene yet constant piano chords, the harmonica weaves a grand melody, making use of its full range.
Dream-Colored Mobile is an air in which the harmonica seems to endlessly sing of a flickering dream. It's sounds are layered on a mobile of sixteenth notes played on the piano and the floating harmony of strings. The original work was composed in 1993 for saxophone, harp and string quartet
Four Little Dream Songs is a diminutive version of “Four Seasons”. Here spring is represented by “Dream Song in May”, summer by “Crooked Waltz in August”, fall by “Dream Song in November” and winter by “Lullaby”. The composition is a compilation of melodies I wrote for radio programs and short stage works. It was first arranged in its four-part form for guitar in 1997, and was recored by Fukuda Shinichi on his album “Tender Toys”. Here you hear an arrangement for harmonica and Piano.
Tender Toys is a collection of works comprised of 11 solos and seven duets written for the guitar between 1983 and 1984. A suite comprised of pieces of this collection and arranged for harmonica and accordion has been performed on numerous occasions by Sakimoto Joe and Miki Mie. The selections included here - “Rimse” and “Velvet Waltz” - are two taken from that suite, but newly arranged for this album. They are performed here by a string quartet
Lindo
poggers
Paul klee