ICHIYANAGI, TOSHI - Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 11: Music for Piano (1959-1961)
"The Music for Piano series was written under John Cages influence in his New York years. This CD is the premiere complete recording without simultaneous playing. The series was played and recorded by pianist Takuji Kawai at KEN in Tokyo in October 27, 2012. Music for Piano No. 1-No. 7" was composed between 1959 and 1961. All the works were written using graphic notations (No. 1, No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6) and instructions (No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6). "This period of my compositions such as Music for Electric Metronomes, Stanzas for String Instrument, Duet for Piano and String Instrument, and Sapporo were all written by graphic notations, which expanded my idea of space in music in later compositions. The premiere of Music for Piano No.2 took place in 1959, performed by David Tudor at Living Theatre in New York. No. 5 was by Yuji Takahashi, No. 4, No. 6 and No. 7 were by myself. This is the first time collecting all seven pieces played open to the public and recorded at the same time. Various techniques as well as different qualities of the sounds were created in an amazing manner by pianist Takuji Kawai through my graphic notations. He played all the noises and concrète sounds without using any electronic device but with live natural sounds only to reflect 1950s to early 60s social situations." - Toshi Ichiyanagi.
After nearly a decade of false starts, multiple game plans veering off the rails, and a handful of shattered hopes and/or dreams, the odyssey is finally complete—the new Fusetron site is here.
This is the first phase of a multipart rollout that will span the next few months: the currently browsable stock includes miscellaneous new releases from the past 8+ months (we have a lot of catching up to do), plus approximately a third of our backstock. Note that we’ve reduced/slashed prices on many titles and will continue to do so in order to make room for new stock. We’ll also be expanding / tweaking / improving / debugging the site itself (for example, we still have work to do on the automated international postage system, not to mention the inevitable inventory discrepancies that come with transferring an ancient and massive database to a new system).
Over the next few months, as we take inventory, clean house, and delve into our storage, we will be uploading thousands of additional items, gradually, on a near-daily basis. This will include the majority of the LPs, as well as many titles, in all formats, once thought long-gone. Many currently “sold out” items are likely to resurface.
Finally, once our general backstock is up (probably in the next two or three months) we’ll begin making our extensive stockpile of rarities available online for the first time: tons of random out-of-print titles, "deadstock," warehouse finds, secondhand collectibles, etc., accumulated over the past few decades.
Frequent/returning customers will be getting early access to these items. Details to follow on how this will work (a priority mailing list? a 'frequent flyer'-like program?), but it will not be based on dollars spent. We want to reward those who consistently support us, especially in the discogs marketplace era (to those who show up trying to poach five copies of a one-off rarity, and nothing else, ever… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ).
So—we suggest you take some time to dig through the site—even we’ve been surprised by what’s been turning up, and there’s much more to come.
