Japanese musicians discover British music

That was the gist of an article in the Nikkei Shinbun back in July. Sadly, I don’t have the whole article, but it cites the young London-based violinist Midori Komachi’s performances of Delius this autumn, as well as the fact that Britten’s opera Peter Grimes opens next month at Tokyo’s New National Theatre (following his ballet The Prince of the Pagodas last year). Another important project in the same vein was the recent Sumidagawa/Curlew River double bill put on in the UK by Tokyo University of the Arts (aka Geidai). This, in fact, was part of a larger Geidai project to research English song, which is much less well-known in Japan than classical songs from Germany, Austria and France. The focus of Geidai’s project has been Britten, but they’ve also been looking at other 20th century British songswriters like Finzi, Warlock and Quilter. Another Britten project in the works is Mahogany Opera taking all three of Britten’s Church Parables to Tokyo next spring, to mark the centenary of the composer’s birth. At least, I hope it’s still in the works, since I can no longer find any reference to it on their website: http://www.mahoganyopera.org.uk/?cat=4

So that’s the 20th century nailed. I was a little disappointed to see, though, that the Nikkei‘s list  of important British composers only mentioned one born before 1850 – Henry Purcell, whom they could hardly have omitted. I certainly hope Japanese musicians are not going to miss out on the other golden age of British music, which, as well as Purcell, also featured Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, Dowland, Weelkes and Wilbye. Maybe these  earlier composers are less accessible to modern ears – though Britten is hardly easy listening either. Anyway, we’re doing our best to redress the balance. As I type this, I can hear the Japanese lutenist Taro Takeuchi practising Dowland downstairs for tonights performance: http://www.dajf.org.uk/event/british-music-for-lute-and-early-guitar-played-by-taro-takeuchi