Review of LNT128: Cosmos Haptic: Contemporary Piano Music from Japan
AB, The New Scotsman
The subtitle of this CD may be Contemporary Piano Music From Japan but it spans 50 years of creativity, from Joji Yuasa's Cosmos Haptic, written as Japan was emerging as a tiger economy, to Sachiyo Tsurumi exploring a partnership between piano and electronic software in 1998, and Dai Fujikura writing in 2003 for 'piano, tape and optional video'.
Not much 'SingalongaMax' here, then, but pianist Hiroaki Takenouchi's programme holds the interest simply because of its musical variety. This is much more than 'thinky-uppy' music – hard to sell on a concert platform, perhaps, but worth hearing.