I found out, with this
issue, that the word ‘Kamikaze’ (The
Wind of God) began life not as a reference
to Japanese suicide bombers in World
War II but referred to a civil aircraft
in the ’thirties which made record-breaking
runs from Tokyo to London. I was expecting
to hear violent effects in this work,
but found that there were none. The
third concerto hails from 1938; a work
less like to fulfil the currently held
perception of "Kamikaze" we
are unlikely to hear.
The concerto is fairly
anonymous, with pleasant, but by no
means memorable themes, played well
by the young Russian soloist Ekaterina
Saranceva. She is accompanied very well.
As well as this, we have one of Naxos’s
very proficient recordings, well known
by now from this source. The work is
in three traditional movements and displays
many of the influences Ohzawa gained
from friends and teachers during his
formative six year period spent in Paris
but primarily in Boston. His teachers
were Converse, Sessions and Schoenberg
in Boston, and Ibert, Honegger, Ferroud
and Gretchinanov in Paris.
The first movement
of the concerto represents a flight
by the plane. Its engines can be heard
starting and the three note motif A
Flat, E Flat, F on trombone and strings
is the motto of the engine. After some
exchanges between various sections of
the orchestra, the plane takes off into
the Allegro assai part of the movement.
New themes are introduced which represent
clouds and/or mist through which the
plane flies to another three note motif
(E Flat, B Flat, C,) which represent
aerobatics. The first movement ends
with a piccolo accompaniment to the
plane moving out of sight.
The second movement
is the music of a night flight (andante
cantabile) with a faster middle section,
returning to the slow ending. The fast
section in the middle is influenced
by jazz, no doubt picked up in America.
The third movement has a slow introduction,
followed by a rondo and coda. It also
uses the three note motif used in the
first movement. Again, jazz influences
are to the fore, together with European
Music Hall thematic material to represent
the flight approaching Paris and London.
The whole concerto
makes quite pleasant listening but certainly
does not stretch the imagination in
any way.
We then move on to
the Third Symphony, written by the composer
to celebrate the 2600th year
of Japan in 1940. The Japanese government
commissioned a number of works from
celebrated composers such as Richard
Strauss, Benjamin Britten, Charles Ives
and Ildebrando Pizzetti. Ohzawa, not
commissioned for this task, dedicated
the symphony to the Emperor of his own
accord.
The Symphony is traditionally
written, in four movements, the first
being a Sonata-form in D. There are
many to-ings and fro-ings throughout
this movement. These are meant to represent
the history of Japan in the nineteenth
century, when the country wavered between
Orient and Occident, pre-modern and
modern, sadness and joy.
There follows a ternary
segment which acts as the slow movement,
and is a Requiem to those who sacrificed
themselves throughout Japan’s long history.
Then comes a Moderato third movement
in the form of a rondo. The finale,
in free sonata form, including a regular
European March and a very irregular
Asian March, and eventually reaches
an optimistic ending.
This is not a masterpiece
by any means, but worthy of attention
if you are on the lookout for some rare
repertoire which is not too difficult.
John Phillips
see also
review by Colin Clarke
Ekaterina Saranceva (piano) 
