Notable web postings - September 2017

Continued from Notable web postings - August 2017

Older notable web postings are collected at Notable web postings archival

♪ Congratulations to Mr. Fumiaki Miura and Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii on their just completed successful duo recitals in Nagano

=> news & comments

♪ September 24 Nobuyuki Tsujii with the Shikoku Phil

13:30 Kochi Prefectural Prefectural Cultural Hall Orange Hall.Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 2 with conductor Kazuki Sawawa and the Shikoku Philharmonic Orchestra.

This is the only known public performance of Nobuyuki Tsujii this month (September, his birthday month):

Rach 2 Kazuki Sawawa and Shikoku Philharmonic Orchestra. The concert is a celebration of the host orchestra's 30th anniversary.

Shikoku Philharmonic Orchestra is a community orchestra, and the event "arts in hearts" is affiliated with Toyota (I do believe it is the Toyota auto giant that we know in the West.)

Kōchi is the capital city of Kōchi Prefecture located on the island of Shikoku in Japan.

It is a tourist destination famous for its castle and temple. "A symbol of the city is its most famous dish, katsuo tataki, made by lightly searing and seasoning tuna" (wikipedia).

The 四国フィルハーモニー管弦楽団 Shikoku Philharmonic Orchestra has a Facebook page, and it posted this photo back in August:

https://www.facebook.com/shikokuphil/photos/rpp.177186822366764/1418122968273137/

"Article of an interview with Mr. Tsujii appeared in the Kochi newspaper. We look forward to the pleasure of performing great music with Mr. Tsujii in a concert very soon."

    It took a little while, but the concert has sold-out on PIA.

♪ September 21  A tweet from the Embassy of Japan Canada        

It is a pleasant surprise to see this tweet from the Embassy of Japan, Ottawa (Canada).

https://twitter.com/JapaninCanada/status/910994655562620929

Nobuyuki Tsujii is a blind pianist from Japan. He is amazing to watch and listen to! http://ow.ly/zlhU30fkcUX  @dailytelegraph #music #piano

Nobuyuki Tsujii was a big hit in Canada in 2011 (Edmonton), 2013 (Vancourver), 2015 (Edmonton & Winnipeg).

He is overdue for another visit!

Photo from Nobuyuki's official site, from  Nobu's April 2011 concert in Edmonton, Canada. 

♪ September 16 Special Concert for 10th Anniversary of Nobu's Début Album sold out instantly

Tickets came on sale at 10:00 this morning in Japan for the Special Concert, and Yura tweeted around 10:20 that they were sold out.

This is a special concert to take place November 13 (Monday) in Suntory Hall, with the showing of special video, solo performances as well as a performance of Rach 2 with Conductor Tetsuji Honna (Nobu's former teacher and director of National Orchestra in Vietnam) and the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.

On Twitter there are many who posted happily for getting tickets, and others who lamented missing out.  One person wrote that it's worth holding the phone for an hour to get through.

It should be a love fest in Suntory Hall on that day.

♪ Aveugle de naissance, Nobuyuki Tsujii est un pianiste hors du commun

https://www.facebook.com/events/346364185828495/

Postings in French:

Aveugle de naissance, Nobuyuki Tsujii est un pianiste hors du commun. Le récital qu'il donnera ce soir-là au Théâtre des Champs-Elysées n'est à manquer sous aucun prétexte ! Un musicien formidable, à la sonorité d'or, dans ses grands débuts parisiens et son répertoire de prédilection...

(Blind at birth, Nobuyuki Tsujii is an outstanding pianist. The recital he will give this evening at the Theater des Champs-Elysées is not to be missed! A formidable musician, with the golden sound, in his great Parisian debut and his favorite repertoire )

https://twitter.com/Concertsmpsz/status/908730735179239424

Récital du grand pianiste Nobuyuki Tsujii le 23/10 à 20h au @TCEOPERA ! #SaveTheDate #辻井伸行 #Paris #Concert #piano 🎼

Recital of the grand pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii on October 23, 20:00 in Paris (at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées)

♪ September 14 Vasily Petrenko  -- Gramophone (UK) Artist of 2017

Congratulations to Maestro Petrenko, who has been announced as Gramophone Artist of 2017

https://www.gramophone.co.uk/awards/2017/artist-of-the-year

Nobu will perform with Conductor Petrenko next year both in U.K. and in Japan.

Tickets for some May 2018 Japan performances are coming on advanced sales today -- quite a coincidence!

♪ Debut 10-years Anniversary Album -- November 8 release

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Nobu's "Debut" album, Avex is releasing a two-disc album on November 8. Disc 1 is classical music, and disc 2 Nobu's compositions -- this is the same format as the "Debut" album.

The album (￥3000, same as for the "Debut" album) can be pre-ordered from Amazon Japan (アメリカ合衆国にお届けできます Shipping to USA available), CDJapan, etc.

Track list

(収録内容)

Disc-1 CLASSICAL

・ショパン:英雄ポロネーズ Chopin: Heroic Polonaise

★ショパン:ノクターン第20番《遺作》 Chopin: Nocturne #20

・ショパン:別れの曲 Chopin: Farewell

・ショパン:革命 Chopin Revolution

・ドビュッシー:ベルガマスク組曲 (前奏曲/メヌエット/月の光/パスピエ) Debussy: Bergamasque Prelude / Menuet / Clare de Lune / Passepide)

・ドビュッシー:喜びの島 Debusy: Isle of joy

・ラヴェル:亡き王女のためのパヴァーヌ Ravel: Pavane for the late princess

・ラヴェル:水の戯れ Ravel: Water Play

・リスト:愛の夢 第3番 Liszt: Love Dream No. 3

・リスト:ため息 Liszt: A sigh

・リスト:ラ・カンパネラ Liszt: La Campanella

Disc-2 ORIGINAL

★青い翼にのって On blue wings [I believe written for ANA, the airlines]

★青い翼にのって =バラード・バージョン Blue wings (ballade version)

★水と緑の物語 Stories of water and green

★しあわせな未来 Happy Future

★しあわせな未来 =バラード・バージョン= Happy Future (ballade version)

★鳥獣戯画 出会い・つれあい編 Wild animals anime -- Encounter

★鳥獣戯画 そして旅はつづく編 Wild animals anime -- Journey

Wild animal scroll -- ・美の巨人たち オープニング・テーマ Giants of Beauty opening theme

・美の巨人たち エンディング・テーマ Giants of Beauty closing theme

・マエストロ エンディング・テーマ Maestro Ending Theme

[ボーナストラック]

[Bonus Tracks]

・服部隆之:真田丸 紀行のテーマ Takayuki Hattori: Theme of Sanada Maru

・星に願いを When you Wish Upon a Star

♪ September 11 Nobu and Friends in Berlin

September 7 tweet from Berlin-based Japanese violinist 二瓶真悠 Mayu Nihei

https://twitter.com/Mayu_Nihei/status/906047179852320768

辻井伸行くん&三浦文彰くんと🍻 レコーディングお疲れさまでした。2人のフランク楽しみ！

Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii and Mr. Miura Fumiaki. Good luck with your recording. I am looking forward to hear the Franck's duo.

The accompanying photo shows 5 casually-dressed young people -- three guys and 2 ladies -- seated in what looks to be a bar/restaurant. Nobu and Mr. Miura are on far right, with Mr. Miura draping one hand over Nobu's shoulders. All are smiling except for Nobu (the camera probably caught him at a wrong moment). Nobu, Fumi and Ms. Nihei are wearing blue jeans. Nobu is wearing a gray light jacket over an an earth-tone patterned shirt.  They are seated around a small, cluttered round table with 5 glasses of drinks on it

♪ September 7 Kind words from Teldex Studio Berlin

A big thanks to Teldex Studio Berlin GmbH, for mentioning the Nobuyuki Tsujii Fans Facebook page in a post, and for the kindness to Mr. Nobuyuki Tsujii and violinist Fumiaki Miura.

Thank you too for sharing an original post by Mr. Muira, which includes a video clip of the performance of Franck's violin sonata in the studio during the recording session.

https://www.facebook.com/teldexstudio/posts/1971197343103807

Thank you Fumiaki Miura and Nobuyuki Tsujii | Nobuyuki Tsujii Fans, it was a great pleasure for us!

Producer | Friedemann Engelbrecht

Engineer | Julian Schwenkner

The video can also be viewed on Twitter here => https://twitter.com/FumiakiMiura/status/905717761191677953

This reminds me of a great YouTube video posted by Avex Classics in 2010, with Nobu's Chopin Nocturne #8 as soundtrack. (The track was recorded at the studio and is on Nobu's 2010 [My Favorite] Chopin CD.) In the video, Nobu is shown being guided by his manager Mr. Nick Asano, on a snowy path, to the front door of the Teldex Studio Berlin GmbH. The door was opened by Mr. Friedemann Engelbrecht, one of the founders of the studio. We see the cavernous interior of the studio, and then Nobu is shown during the recording session. We see Mr. Engelbrecht go over the scores with Nobu, with help from an interpreter. And at the end we see Mr. Engelbrecht guiding Nobu's hand to touch the inside of the grand piano that he played on. I think this was Nobu's first visit to the studio.When I first saw this video, I cried. Another Nobu fan in Japan said the same thing happened to her.

♪ September 6

A while back Mr. Masahiro Kawakami (Nobu's long-time piano teacher) wrote on his blog that Nobu and violinist Fumiaki Miura would be heading for Berlin for some CD recording at Teldex Studio Berlin GmbH. A big thanks to Mr. Miura, who posted this tweet today. I am guessing that they are recording Franck's Piano Concerto.

https://twitter.com/FumiakiMiura/status/905584479653257216

Had a nice CD recording with Nobu in Berlin! Wonderful recording team, Avex and Teldex studio🎼👍辻井くんとCD録音in Berlin！@AvexRecitals

In the photo, the gentleman conversing with Mr. Miura is Mr. Friedemann Engelbrecht, master sound engineer and practically a teacher for Nobu. Nobu is seen in the foreground, playing on the piano, oblivious to others in the room.

-----

In the past, Nobu has said that his stage performance is at top form after a recording session with Mr. Engelbrecht, who goes through the music score with the artists meticulously. Mr. Kawakami has written (admiringly) several times in his blog about how demanding Mr. Engelbrecht is.

Speaking of CD: It as been a long time since Nobu's last one came out ...

♪ September 5  "A big event for me was the meeting here with the Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsuji"http://vladnews.ru/2017/09/05/134383/yustus-franc-ya-vizhu-bolshoe-razvitie-vladivostoka.html

INTERVIEW SEPTEMBER 5 2017

Justus Franz: I see a great development of Vladivostok

World-renowned German conductor, pianist and public figure gave an interview to RIA VladNews.The article mentions that Mr. Franz was at the August 9 concert in Vladivostov (Russia) at which Nobu performed with conductor Valery Gergiev, and performed in the closing concert of the Far Eastern Festival.

Below is one of the questions & answers in the interview

Q: Did you manage to get acquainted with one of the musicians of the Mariinsky Theater?

A: You know, I did not have much time. Of course, I know Valery Gergiev, Pavel Smelkov, Mikhail Petrenko.

A big event for me was the meeting here with the Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsuji.

In the article, it is mentioned that Mr. Franz made his debut in 1970 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert Karajan and performed with the orchestra about 40 times.

♪ August 30 Nobuyuki Tsujii fans facebook community now 900+ strong

At the urging of the mighty Facebook, I thank everyone who took the time to "like" the Nobuyuki Tsujii fans facebook page -- this "community" has reached 900 strong and growing.

Of course if the "community" were run by Nobu himself, there would be a thousand times more "like"s.

But Nobu doesn't do social media (I am happy that he is focusing on his music instead) and so I take it upon myself to spread his news on Facebook, strictly as a labor of Love .

I am proud that the 900 "Like"s on the Nobuyuki Tsujii fans facebook page are from honest-to-goodness Nobu fans -- no advertisements; no promotions; no gimmicks.