MUSIC REVIEW : Kitaro Strives for Higher Plane

Fitting that Kitaro’s two-hour set Thursday night at the Universal Amphitheatre opened with rear-screen projections of the Japanese New Age keyboardist’s name, corporate sponsor and the nine titles on his new “Kojiki” album on to a white scrim hiding the stage set. It was fitting because the blend of triumphant, emotional peaks with muted passages sounded like the soundtrack to a film or long-form video that has yet to be made.

But give Kitaro credit--this wasn’t New Age as an exercise in creating vapid melodic paeans to the stress-less life, but music striving to reach a higher plane. Kitaro’s apparent goal was attaining the sonic majesty of a Western symphony orchestra.

The triad of taiko drums at the apex of his pyramid-shaped stage set was one of Kitaro’s few nods to his Japanese heritage. His favorite synthesizer tone brought to mind the piper Zamfir pushing his “20 Golden Hits” album. And the recurrent theme throughout the “Kojiki” album, as played in its entirety during the first half of the performance, sounded like a variant on the tune “Greensleeves.”

The structured arrangements didn’t give Kitaro’s highly professional backing septet much opportunity to shine, although violinist Charlie Bisharat injected some visual and musical personality as the leader’s chief melodic foil. The only variety came in a pair of full group percussion jams and two older pieces in the second half of the set when the band’s sudden shift from full crescendo to a brief, soft coda was quite effective.