Music Reviews : Pro Musica Nipponia

Friday night at the Japan America Theatre, Pro Musica Nipponia (or Nihon Ongaku Shudan ) promised an evening of music mixing traditional Japanese instruments with Western compositional techniques. Unfortunately, due to a delayed flight from St. Louis, the concert began 45 minutes late.

After the wait, violinist Yoko Matsuda and pianist Daniel Shulman began the program with light, parlor-style performances of Debussy’s Violin Sonata, Webern’s Four Pieces, Opus 7, and Ravel’s Violin Sonata. A new-age improvisation by shakuhachi player Kifu Mitsuhashi followed.

Finally, Pro Musica Nipponia arrived, donned their kimonos and delivered four Los Angeles premieres, assisted by 12 local string players.

The minimalist elements of “Autumn Fantasy,” by Minoru Miki, founder of Pro Musica Nipponia, and his Penderecki-inspired “Jo-No-Kyoku,” did little to mix the two cultures in an effective way. The Japanese instruments seemed like fish out of water and glossy commercialism often substituted for substance.

Katsutoshi Nagasawa’s ambitious, melodic “Otsu-e Fantasy” and Takashi Yoshimatsu’s “The Miroku Effect,” a study of the opposition between stasis and cacophony, also fell short of making substantial statements.