Yoshiko Shimizu – George Crumb: Works for Amplified Piano(S) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:09:26 minutes | 1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Kairos

Japanese pianist Yoshiko Shimizu, a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music (both the high school and college divisions), first heard Crumb’s Makrokosmos I during her college years. Previously, she studied with Toshio Iwashita, Michiko Chisaka, Yoshie Kohra, Toh Tomimoto, Yuko Ninomiya, and Haruna Miyake. Captivated by Crumb’s unique voice, she then went to America and entered the Eastman School of Music in New York, where she found a mentor in David Burge, the pianist to whom the Makokosmos I is dedicated and with whom she would work closely. Upon receiving her master’s degree from Eastman, Yoshiko Shimizu returned to a career as a concertizing artist in Japan. As a solo pianist and a member of the Eastman Musica Nova Ensemble, she played many pieces, especially of contemporary music, as follows: Allan Shindler’s Take Me Places, Joseph Schwantner’s Music of Amber, Paul Hindemith’s Kammermusik No.1, Kamilló Lendvay’s Concertino per pianoforte, fiati, percussion ud arpa, Howard Hanson’s A Sea Symphony (as a Celestist), Joe
Hudson’s Reflexives for piano and tape, George Walker’s Spatials – Variations for piano, Curtis Curtis-Smith’s Rapsodies, Ann Silsbee’s Doors, Leon Kirchner’s Piano Sonata, Elliot Carter’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Theodor Adorno’s Drei Klavierstücke, P.K.B.Eine Kleine Kindersuite, and Drei Kurze Klavierstücke, Michaël Levinas’s 3 Etudes pour Piano, Henry Cowell’s The Banshee and Aeolian Harp, John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes, David Burge’s Go-Hyang, “Poignant,” “Spirited,” and “Folksong” from 24 Preludes, Yoshio Hachimura’s Improvisation pour piano, Satoshi Tanaka’s The Afterworld, Grisaille, and Oracle, etc.

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