Concerto pour Piano et Orchestre
Akio Yashiro (1929~1976, Japan)
矢代秋雄: ピアノ協奏曲
00:00 1st mov. Allegro animato
13:02 2nd mov. Adagio misterioso
20:42 3rd mov. Allegro – Andante – Vivace, molto capriccioso
Izumi Tateno, piano
Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra
Kotaro Sato, conducting
Recorded: January 25, 1991 Live at Tokyo Bunka Kaikan (Tokyo Culture Hall)
Yashiro’s “Piano Concerto” was commissioned by NHK, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, and was composed between 1964 and 1967. It was first heard in a broadcast performance on 5th November, 1967, with Hiroko Nakamura as the soloist and the NHK Symphony Orchestra under the baton of the Hiroshi Wakasugi, and was awarded the Odaka Award of the Year. Instituted in commemoration of the composer Hisatada Odaka, the award is the most important prize in Japan awarded to orchestral works. This work has ever since enjoyed particular favor in Japan among works written by Japanese composers, and has been played several times in the West. Among those who have conducted the concerto are Jean Marinon, Jean Fournet, and Michael Gielen.
The “Piano Concerto” consists of three movements, and there one can recognize the influence of Bartók, Prokofiev, Jolivet and others, as well as that of a Japanese composer who also studied in France and whom Yashiro regarded as his rival, Akira Miyoshi, notably his Piano Concerto of 1962 and Concerto for Orchestra written two years later.
The first movement is marked Allegro animato and is in free sonata form. The piano abruptly starts playing the first theme like an incantation in irregular time, supported by the vibraphone and the strings, with characteristic interjections of two chromatically descending notes on the brass repeatedly thrown it. This is followed by a vigorous quasi-cadenza passage for the piano. Then the flute takes up the meditative first part of the second theme, which is followed by the piano playing the lament-like second part, in cadenza style. The development mainly takes up the first theme but only briefly as if it merely serves as an introduction to the recapitulation. The first half of the recapitulation, taking over from the development, treats the first theme, but with an increasing intensity, until it reaches the climax, which is highly reminiscent of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2. In the second part of the recapitulation recalls the vigorous quasi-cadenza passage and the second subject group.
The second movement is marked Adagio misterioso. The rhythmic pattern of seven notes in three bars in C only is repeated 43 times with a persistence that would overshadow Ifukube and Ravel’s Boléro. The motif of the second part of the secondary theme of the first movement joins in and the movement is brought to a climax, after which the music gradually fades away and is brought to an end. The composer describes his rhythmic pattern as a reproduction of the sound he continuously heard in a childhood nightmare while he lay in bed with a fever.
The third movement, Allegro – Andante – Vivace molto caprriccioso, is in free rondo form. An eloquent motif characterized by very vigorous ascending motion and a humorous motif played on the muted brass are first presented, but the main character of this movement is the vigorous cadenza-style passage for the piano which follows these motifs. The concerto is brought to a brilliant end, with these motifs, together with reminiscences of the motivic material of the preceding movements.
by Morihide Katayama (translation: Yuriko Ohtsuka) from 8.555351J “Akio YASHIRO: Piano Concerto, Symphony” booklet
ピアノ協奏曲はNHKの委嘱により1964年から67年にかけ作曲され、同年11月5日、中村紘子の独奏と若杉弘指揮NHK交響楽団によって放送で初演されて、同年度の尾高賞をうけ、以来、日本ピアノ協奏曲の名作として、内外で繰り返し演奏されている。この作品を取り上げた指揮者には、ジャン・マルティノン、ジャン・フルネ、ミヒャエル・ギーレンなどが含まれる。
曲は3つの楽章から成り、そこにはバルトークやプロコフィエフやジョリヴェなど、それから矢代がライヴァルと目していた三善のピアノ協奏曲(1962)や管弦楽のための協奏曲(1964)あたりの影響も認められるように思われる。
第1楽章 アレグロ・アニマート 自由なソナタ形式。いきなりピアノがヴィブラフォーンと弦楽に支えられながら変拍子による呪文のような第1主題を奏で、これに金管が半音下降する2音による特徴的な合いの手を繰り返し入れる。このあとピアノによる暴力的なカデンツァ風の動きがあり、ついでフルートが瞑想的な第2主題Aを、ピアノがまたカデンツァ的に今度は哀歌風の第2主題Bを奏でる。展開部は主に第1主題を扱うがごく短く、ほとんど再現部の導入といった役割しかない。再現部の前半は展開部に引きつづき第1主題を扱い、高潮し、その山場はプロコフィエフのピアノ協奏曲第2番をかなり思わせる。後半では暴力的なカデンツァ風の動きや第2主題群が回想される。
第2楽章 アダージョ・ミステリオーソ Cの音だけによる3小節7音のリズム・パターンが伊福部やラヴェルの「ボレロ」顔負けの執拗さで43回も繰り返され、そこに第1楽章の第2主題Bの動機などが絡んで徐々に高潮し、やがて減衰して終わる。作曲家はこのリズム・パターンを幼年時代に高熱を出して臥せっていたときの悪夢で聴こえていた音の再現と述べる。
第3楽章 アレグローアンダンテーヴィヴァーチェ・モルト・カプリチオーソ 自由なロンド形式。まず極めて逞しい上行運動に特徴づけられた雄弁な動機とミュートした金管によるとぼけた動機が示されるが、この楽章の主役はそのあとにピアノに現れる第1楽章の暴力的なカデンツァ風の動きである。これらの動機群に、先行する2つの楽章の素材の回想も絡み、華やかに結ぶ。
（片山杜秀、8.555351J『矢代秋雄: ピアノ協奏曲、交響曲』解説書より）