A night to “Noh” forget: recital by vocalist Noriko Yakushiji at the Embassy of Japan in Brussels

On the night of October 22, the S6 and S7 music classes headed to the Embassy of Japan to see an unusual concert, a recital by vocalist Noriko Yakushiji and accompanied by a guitarist and saxophonist, two old Ghent Conservatory colleagues of hers. We had to opportunity to listen to pieces from different eras of Japanese music, but also Flemish renaissance pieces, all played A Capelle or using western instruments. The concert room was small and intimate, probably a reception hall used by the embassy. We were offered drinks and were able to chat with some Japanese audience members, who were curious to know what a bunch of teenagers were doing at a Japanese music concert but were pleasantly surprised to learn that we were music students on a “field trip”.   

A diverse and eclectic recital 

The recital was divided into 11 songs, alternating between Japanese music and “western” music (some pieces were in Latin, German or French). The recital opened with Ugisu (Nightingale) from “Four unaccompanied songs to poems by Haruo Sato” by composer Fumio Hayasaka, which Yakushiji sang A Capella. The singer then launched to Mnemosyne by Henri Pousseur (1968), which was in German. I could unfortunately not understand what she was singing as I am not fluent in German, but I did notice that she sang off at a small instance and that she would pronounce the beginning of her notes on /h/ quite often. She then continued with Bonjour mon coeur, a Renaissance piece by Orlando di Lasso (1564). This piece was accompanied by the guitarist.  

Contrasting pieces 

The performance proceeded with a 3-movement piece which lasted about 15 minutes: Renka I by Toshio Hosakawa (1986), also including guitar. The contrast between this and the previous Belgian piece was clear. Not only was it played in a completely different musical mode, but it was more atonal. I could also often hear portamentos. It felt like the vocalist was trying to imitate the sound of wind. After this piece the guitarist left the stage. The fifth piece was very surprising, Noriko Yakushiji would just repeat the words “Ki i te” (Listen), which also happen to be the name of the piece, composed by Dai Fujikura in 2017. She used techniques such as inhale singing or staccato.  

Then, in A flower by John Cage (1945), she used a piano fallboard for percussion while singing one prolonged note. She then stopped using the piano as a drum and imitated the sound of a duck. Following this came two songs played with the saxophonist.  The first one was in Latin, a “Bicinia”, or a two-part song (the parts were called Te deprecamur and Non avertas), composed by Orlando di Lasso during the Renaissance (1577) and the second one was a Japanese contemporary piece called Memory, composed by Toshio Hosokawa (2005). The Noh ranged voice and saxophone felt almost complementary in these pieces, they were two sides of the same coin. These pieces were my favorites of the night. 

Singing in two vocal ranges 

Lastly, the final piece was called Kaya no kiyama no (On the Hill of the Kaya trees), composed by Kosaku Yamada (1922): a trio of voice, guitar, and saxophone. It was more melodic than the previous piece. The saxophone was almost played like a flute, maybe a western homage to the original composition.  

A general review of the performance 

In general, I found the level of the performers to be very good. I did notice that the vocalist sang some notes off during more experimental pieces, but I imagine it must be very difficult to fully master A Capella experimental contemporary music. The guitarist was very talented, and the saxophonist was simply amazing. She was to me the highlight of the night. It is unfortunate though that the acoustics of the room were not adapted to such music performances. As for the audience, although I heard some laughs in the back which I did not find respectful, they seemed to enjoy the recital.  

David Schreiber / S6FRC / EEB1 Uccle