Kashiwa Daisuke garnered his first inkling of praise for the sketches which were displayed on pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto’ radio program. His first full-length expanded upon and refined the serene, breathing pulses of ambience and soft focus, incorporating drums of a sledgehammer crack, which served to parallel and accentuate the atmosphere of the brooding strings in their ebb and flow. With these two works, each over twenty-five minutes in length, Daisuke now takes his impressionistic, emotional sensibility and applies it within more of a narrative context. The opening piece tells the story of ‘Night on the Milky Way Railroad’ while the second turns its glance towards ‘Run Melos!’
On the former piece, Daisuke’ interpretation maintains a buoyant form throughout. His use of delay and looping manages to generate a structure and atmosphere that is balanced and assured while the occasional turns from detached abstraction to irregular rhythmic figures foster a sprightly sense of motion and rest. The compositions thereby veer from lyrical segments that are pungent and expressive to points of muted crisp punctuation and, finally, as on the closing moments of the first selection, to vigorous moments of layered beat patterns and frenetic string arrangements where the accumulating sense of tragedy is strangely uplifting. As they do, all of these elements reveal a certain sympathy for one another, and this underlines the degree to which Daisuke’ creative vitality has managed to endure in this expansive setting.
The second work, if not as immediately rewarding, nevertheless stands as a vibrant and occasionally unruly manifestation of chamber music. The piece is populated with ever-shifting rhythmical mosaics, nimbly dancing violins and, admittedly, some gratuitous distortion that detracts from Daisuke’ melodic sensibility. Still, this collection boasts some evocative, tonally beautifully music.
Max Schaefer
