21 November 2010

More on Takashi Asahina (朝比奈 隆)

I have to say that the "yield rate" of truly outstanding performances among Asahina's numerous Bruckner recordings is relatively low. However, it is not to say that his Bruckner is mediocre. In fact his Bruckner has invariably been, with few exceptions, able to impress. I have attended only one of his Bruckner concerts, in Osaka in Februrary 2001, ten months before his death. This Bruckner's 8th was a very good performance, but it ultimately lacked the kind of incandescence and inevitability of Wand. To be fair, it was much better than many Bruckner concerts that I've attended, however.

What is unique about his Bruckner is the high degree of transparency despite a sound picture with emphasis on the basses. Small details in the score will thus be revealed to the attentive listener. Here he bears a not too remote resemblance to Celibidache. He is able to sustain long lines with a generally broad tempo, but I was rather disturbed by his sometimes hurried and seemingly impatient phrases within a part of a movement.

Among his recordings (I suspect that I've collected all), Bruckner's 5th and 8th were considered his specialties in Japan, and I tend to agree. His Bruckner's 4th and 7th were not particularly brilliant, at least when compared with those venerable Brucknerian giants. His Bruckner's 9th is sort of a special case. 

In general, his recordings can be more easily classified according to the record label. The Jean-Jean set shows a budding Brucknerian in a provincial orchestra, the Osaka Philharmonic founded by Asahina in 1947 when it was first known as the Kansai Symphony Orchestra and later changed to the present name in 1960. The JVC set involves many different orchestras and shows signs of improvement. The full Pony Canyon set featuring the Osaka Philharmonic recorded in the 1990's reaches the peak of his Bruckner performances with some prime recommendations among his huge discography. There is also a partial set issued by Pony Canyon (with Tokyo Symphony Orchestra) but it does not surpass the full set. Fontec issued different series of his cooperation with mainly three orchestras: New Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo Metropolitan SO and NHK SO. The 3 discs with NHK SO show very focused playing with excellent ensemble and acoustics. The discs with the other 2 orchestras are OK, but there is one excellent 7th with TMSO. Exton presents live recordings of his Osaka Philharmonic concerts in the last years of his life, with generally gorgeous sound, but regrettably also shows his art in decline.

Here are my comments on individual symphonies:
4th: Not his strong point. Either NHKSO (2000, Fontec) or Osaka PO (2000, Exton) is good if you want to hear his Bruckner's 4th.

5th: His Osaka PO performance for his 90th birthyear (1998, Mainichi) is a memorable experience. Another good one is with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra (1995, Pony Canyon) in the small boxset.

7th: Many Japanese critics were very enthusiastic about the concert at St. Florian in 1975 (JVC single disc) with the church bell unexpectedly sounding right after the Adagio. There is a spiritual quality to this performance but the playing is not tiptop in his case. A surprisingly nice recording is the one with Tokyo Metropolitan (2001, Fontec), with very natural flow and smooth sonority.

8th: Asahina has always used the Haas edition. Some may prefer his last recording (July 2001, Exton), but I'm concerned with some clumsiness here and there, and at times the Adagio even sounds somewhat stolid. The earlier performance that year (Feb 2001, Exton) is better. It was recorded in Nagoya three days after the concert I attended in Osaka. The pianissimo was exquisite and the long lines were held solidly. The NHKSO disc (1997, Fontec) is good in its own right. But if I have to choose only one disc to represent Asahina's Bruckner, it'd be the 1994 recording with "his" orchestra, the Osaka Philharmonic (Pony Canyon). It show him in his best light, in the prime of his Bruckner career.

9th: Again the 1995 Pony Canyon (Osaka PO) is preferred among his many recordings, an expressive yet not oversentimentalized interpretation. His very last Bruckner recording on Exton can only be recommended for sentimental reasons, it being let down by what I'd call a "disjointed poignancy".

People of course will differ in their opinion, and so I welcome comments from you.


12 comments:

  1. Thanks for the guide of asahina's art. it seems that the set you recommended is not for sell on hmv... i only have his eroica recording on weitblick. it makes me feel like a celluloid cartoon of the chinese landscape paintings. i've listened to his jvc bruckner 1st once, not quite impressive since i'm not familiar with the work.

    cheers eaquson

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  2. Hi eaquson,
    I never meant it to be a guide. It's merely my personal reflection.
    Your analogy to a "celluloid cartoon of the Chinese landscape paintings" is very interesting. Could you please elaborate a little more? Thanks.
    Horace

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  3. a tour ^^

    i can sense a span in each sentence,like the drawing in chinese landscape paintings,and a discontinuity between setences. it's like a slowly played cartoons. i can not feel the music evolving and as a result, no emotional contrast.
    i don't know this one is either good or bad. eaquson

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  4. Thank you for the explanation eaquson.
    Horace.

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  5. just try his 7th(fontec)
    a brucknerian and a new world has opened to me!
    eaquson

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  6. So you are satisfied with this 2001 (Fontec) Bruckner 7th. Happy listening.
    Horace

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  7. i'm surprised at the transparency of the first two movement in his 1998 8th(fontec),which is rare in my listening experience (of first 2 movement). i guess asahina choose a slow tempo just to make sure everything goes well,all the sound is audible and matches well in strict order of time. it seems to be quite hard for the orchestra so they sound really..ugly in first 2 movement, especially the brass. but i really admire their efforts to play the music as what it is.i think asahina is very serious on bruckner. eaquson

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  8. Glad that you are so interested in Asahina and took the effort to explore his recordings. Yes I agree that he was very serious about Bruckner, and in fact Bruckner was considered his specialty. Please take time to enjoy the Adagio in this recording; though Tokyo Metropolitan SO is no match for the venerable European "Brucknerian" orchestras, the players were obviously playing with their heart.
    Horace

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  9. Horace- that's an excellent overview of Asahina's Bruckner. The high points of Asahina's Bruckner are enough to make you want to search for more, but they are not often found.

    Probably my favorite Bruckner recording of his is his 94.06.27 Bruckner 5, the one I believe you recommend. It has unbroken concentration and a wonderfully blazing finale with no technical faults by the orchestra. At one point a few years back, I'd heard all his others, including the video DVD. This studio recording is clearly superior. I was surprised to read your dismissal of his Bruckner 4- I think the '93 Osaka Canyon and NHK perfoprmances are quite excellent, and avoid a lot of the bombast that can come with this rather repetitive score. But I can imagine the many of his others are not worth hearing. The '91 Tokyo Symphony Bruckner 9 is a mesmerizing account despite a nearly disasterous ensemble glitch at the beginning of the third movement where much of the orchestra is a bar off. The '97 TMSO Bruckner 7 has wonderful shape to it; it is strange to compare it to the hasty version from a few years earlier(?) that Fontec also released. With all that said, I don't care for his Bruckner 8- the Osaka one on his Canyon cycle is golden, sunny and a total bore to me. A later Exton one (2001) in Osaka is more driven, but does not get the most out of the piece. His JVC set has a lot of technically flawed playing, and the mixed orchestras don't help. The Jean-Jean set shows the growing pains of the Osaka orchestra and the recordings are pretty crude and compressed for the time.

    I have other favorite Asahina recordings- his Wagner is excellent, and both Schubert 9's I've heard are both a total pleasure. His Schumann 3 on Canyon is a delightfully thick stew, and there are others. We do a disservice to think of him just as an overrated Brucknerian!

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  10. Thank you very much for your kind words and generous sharing with us of your wide experience in Asahina's recordings. I'm really glad to hear from someone who is so keen on Bruckner as well.

    As for Asahina's non-Bruckner recordings, I have a few of his during his NDR days, and these are interesting despite the unsatisfactory sound.

    Hope to hear more from you.

    Horace

    P.S. Sorry to respond so late as I've been too busy to check my blog at this time of the year (before the Chinese New Year).

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  11. I see there's a new Pony Canyon box set of a complete cycle. How does this relate to your comments above on the two Pony Canyon cycles? Is it the one to get?

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    1. This new set (PCCL-00599) is almost a straight reissue of the original set (PCCL-00400). I said "almost" because in the old set Symphonies Nos. 1-9 took up CD1-CD11, and CD12 is "Rehearsal Scene". In the new set, CD1-CD11 are the same as the old set, but an additional "special" CD is included. This "special" CD contains 30 tracks of excerpts from the nine symphonies, and in fact is only a replica of a previous issue called "Bruckner - The best of symphonies" (PCCL-00478).
      If one is comfortable to part with 14000 yens, then this is the Asahina set to go for. Although it is much more expensive than many extant Bruckner symphonies sets at present, it is in fact much cheaper than the old set which had a list price of 25486 yens when it was issued in 1997 (to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Osaka Philharmonic).
      Horace

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