Yasushi Akutagawa: Prélude pour orchestre symphonique (1947) / Kazuo Yamada & New SO [primiere live]

Yasushi Akutagawa [芥川也寸志] (1925~1989, Japan)

交響管絃楽のための前奏曲

Prélude pour orchestre symphonique

New Symphony Orchestra, Japan
Kazuo Yamada, conducting
Recorded: 20, January, 1990 (primiere live) at Shinjuku Bunka Center

Born in Tokyo on July 12, 1925, the third son of the great writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa, Yasushi Akutagawa was attracted to the music on his father's records from an early age, and was already humming the lullaby from Stravinsky's "The Firebird" when he was in kindergarten. His love for music gradually grew as he improvised melodies to poems in picture books, and in his fourth year of high school, he decided to pursue a career in music. He began his formal studies, but the strain of intense study took its toll and he contracted costochondritis. On his sickbed, he heard the extraordinary news of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1943, he barely made it into the Tokyo Music School (now Tokyo University of the Arts), but the war was already underway and there was no time to study, so he joined the military band of the Toyama School of the Army as a student mobilizer and graduated first in his class after six months of study. [...] When he first returned to the Tokyo Music School after the war, which miraculously escaped air raids, Akutagawa enjoyed running around the school by himself. [...]

It was during this time that Akutagawa was shocked to meet Akira Ifukube, who was appointed as a lecturer in the composition department after the postwar personnel reform. Akutagawa was immediately fascinated by Ifukube's wide-ranging and profound view of music, which he had developed all by himself in the distant land of Hokkaido, and looked up to him as his teacher for the rest of his life.

By the time he graduated from the department of the Tokyo Music School in 1947, his works had been introduced at concerts for newcomers and on the radio, and he was also involved in work for films and broadcasting, and gradually began to emerge as a composer.

"Prélude pour orchestre symphonique" (1947) is his graduation work from the department. In the hardness of a student's study, the strong influence of his teacher Ifukube can be felt. It was premiered in January 1990 at the 126th Concert of the New Symphony Orchestra, "In Memoriam: Yasushi Akutagawa," conducted by Kazuo Yamada.

by Makoto Uehara from FOCD-9415/16 "yasushi akutagawa forever" booklet

The graduation work "Prélude pour orchestre symphonique," which was performed for the first time after Yasushi's death, is a triple-wind orchestral piece of less than 20 minutes. [...]

The opening slow song [00:00] is lighter than Ifukube's northern songs, and sung against a background of softer colors, but still folk-like enough.
The slow second theme with whole tone scale [03:18] shows a distant longing for impressionism.

In the following Allegro [08:54], a descending motif in primary colors is presented by trumpets and strings, emphasized and developed by physical timpani rhythms and high piano chords that drive a wedge. The contrast between the two is vivid, and the Allegro pays homage to Ifukube's masterpiece "Ballata Sinfonica."
The slow song sung afterwards [12:03] already foretells Yasushi's characteristics as a melody maker.

The recapitulation of the Allegro [16:08] is a frenetic dance that is reminiscent of Khachaturian's folklore, and the tricky ending is reminiscent of Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony.

by Shin Sannin no Kai (2018). "The Musicians of Japan Series: Yasunushi Akutagawa," Yamaha Music Entertainment Holdings

　文豪芥川龍之介の三男として1925年7月12日、東京に生まれた芥川也寸志は、早くから父が残したレコードの音楽に惹かれ、既に幼稚園の頃にはストラヴィンスキーの『火の鳥』の“子守歌”を口ずさんでいた。絵本の詩に即興でメロディーをつけるなど次第に音楽好きは嵩じ、旧制中学4年の時に音楽の道へ進む事を決意。それから正式な勉強を始めたが、猛勉強の無理が祟って肋膜炎の病床で真珠湾攻撃の臨時ニュースを聞いた。
　1943年(昭18)にかろうじて東京音楽学校(現・東京芸大)に入学したものの既に戦争中で勉強どころではなく、学徒動員で陸軍戸山学校軍楽隊に入隊し6ヶ月の教育機関を首席で卒業した。[...]
　戦争が終わって、奇跡的に大空襲を免れた東京音楽学校に最初に戻った時、芥川は一人で校内を駆け回り喜びを満喫した。[...]

　こうした頃に、芥川に衝撃を与え将来を決定付けたのは、戦後の人事刷新によって作曲科講師に迎えられた伊福部昭との出会いだった。遠く北海道の地で一人で築き上げた伊福部の広範で深い音楽観に芥川はたちまち心酔し、生涯師と仰いだ。
　1947年に東京音楽学校本科を卒業する頃には、新人演奏会やラジオで作品が紹介され、映画・放送関係の仕事も手掛けるなど、次第に作曲家として頭角を現し始めた。

交響管絃楽のための前奏曲(1947)は本科の卒業作品。学生時代の習作の硬さの中に師・伊福部の強い影響が感じられる。1990年1月の新交響楽団第126回演奏会 “追悼・芥川也寸志” (山田一雄指揮)が初演だった。
（上原誠、FOCD-9415/16『芥川也寸志forever』解説書）

　也寸志の没後初演された卒業作品《交響管絃楽のための前奏曲》は、20分弱の三管編成の管弦楽曲である。[...]
　冒頭の緩やかな歌は、伊福部の北方の歌と比べ軽く、柔らかな色彩を背景に歌われるが、十分に民俗的なものである。全音階による緩徐第2主題には、印象派への遠い憧憬も感じとれる。
　続くアレグロは、原色の下降音型のモティーフがトランペットと弦楽器の強奏で提示され、肉体的なティンパニのリズム、くさびを打つピアノの高音の和音群によって強調され展開される。両者のコントラストは鮮やかであり、アレグロには伊福部の傑作《交響譚詩》へのオマージュを感ずる。その後歌われる緩やかな歌は、メロディメーカーとしての也寸志の特質をすでに予告している。
　アレグロの再現部は、ハチャトゥリアンの民俗性に通じる熱狂的な舞曲であり、トリッキーな結尾部はどこかプロコフィエフの交響曲第5番のそれを思わせる。
（新・3人の会『日本の音楽家を知るシリーズ 芥川也寸志』（2018、ヤマハミュージックエンターテインメントホールディングス）より）