Somei Satoh - Hymn For The Sun: Works Of Somei Satoh (2009)

This CD is markable reissue of very rare first LP of Somei Satoh. Like several other composers of his generation, Somei Satoh has an affinity for mysticism and meditation, and he attempts to convey stillness and timelessness in his extremely slow music. His works may be described as ambient, but their minor key harmonies and step-wise melodies seem more conventional than the blurred, unearthly sonorities usually found in that atmospheric genre. ALM Records issued some important LPs of Satoh's tape works in 70's - early 80's especially Mandala (1982) and Emerald Tablet(1981). Only Mandala is able to listen on CD now, but great work Emerald Tablet and Hymn For The Sun didn't reissue yet. You will re-discover Satoh's deep and divine world in this dense piano sound. Liner note is written by Yori-aki Matsudaira (Japanese and English). Contents: 'Litania' (1973) - for piano with delay system. 'Mirror' (1975) - for piano solo. 'Hymn For The Sun' (1973) - for piano with delay system.
Somei Satoh was born in 1947 in Sendai (northern Honshu), Japan. He began his career in 1969 with Tone Field, an experimental, mixed media group based in Tokyo. In 1972 he produced Global Vision, a multimedia arts festival, that encompassed musical events, works by visual artists and improvisational performance groups. In one of his most interesting projects held at a hot springs resort in Tochigi Prefecture in 1981, Satoh places eight speakers approximately one kilometer apart on mountain tops overlooking a huge valley. As a man-made fog rose from below, the music from the speakers combined with laser beams and moved the clouds into various formations.
Satoh has collaborated twice since 1985 with theater designer, Manuel Luetgenhorst in dramatic stagings of his music at The Arts at St. Ann's in Brooklyn, New York.