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Music and Literature: a pair of entities which have transformed and developed through a process of mutual stimulation. Starting with Nineteenth century romanticism, which developed through a close and conjunct relationship between these two, we will view the rich affinity which has blossomed between music and literature from a variety of vantage points; whether poetry as the fountainhead of music or stories told to music.
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© Kijuro Yahagi
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ptoto©Shinji TAKEHARA
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The eighteenth Tokyo Summer Music Festival 2002 came to an end on July 27 after three weeks of performances and other programs based on the theme "Music and Literature" with tickets to some of the performances even sold out. From its commencement on July 2, a great number of music lovers were entertained at various venues during the festival before its successful finale.
The festival began with performances of Berlioz' "Symphonie Fantastique" and its sequel piece "Lelio" by the New Japan Orchestra, conducted by Ozawa Seiji in his first appearance with the festival itself.
A collaborative poetry reading by Gary Snyder fusing poetry with music, a colloquium between the Russian poet Aygi and composer Gubaydulina along with their work sung in concert by the Collegium Vocale chorus group, the contrasting performances of the original Winterreise and a compositional interpretation of the same by Hans Zender, "My First Concert with Paddington Bear!": an enjoyable storytelling for all ages with actress Kishida Kyoko, and then an impassioned reading of "Enoch Arden" by Emori Toru.
The three performances of the series "Japanese Music and Literature" included the richly traditional Biwa contending in performance with each other, an amazing reading by Yoshimasu Gozo, and the first appearance of Saruya Toshiro as commissioned by the festival for an original piece. Iranian master musician Alizâdeh made his first appearance in Japan with his present-day form of the Persian musical tradition. There was a night of chamber music reflecting the musical image of Proust's work with pieces selected by Afanassiev, and poets from the East and West converged for a symposium and the "Colloquium of Literary Characteristics in German Music" in which they discussed their viewpoints quite candidly. The rich relationship between "Music and Literature" was presented from many aspects.
This festival, we also for the first time experimented with incorporating special participatory performances and related programs fitting with this year's theme.
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