Choral Music in Japan

[Guest]

Surprisingly - or perhaps not - no new thread on today's The Choir.

Well... staying positive, here goes. I thought the Bach Collegium Japan reputation safely confirmed by what was played on today's programme viz. wonderfully assured, immaculate performances under Masaki Suzuki. Some incidental snippets of more general interest too: 'over 200 Bach choirs in Tokyo alone' (did I hear that aright??)... Kobé, the BC home city, presumably keeps pace unless BC success and pre-eminence dampens local enthusiasm. Great fulness of tone and width in choirs evident throughout selected performances, exactly (as Suzuki himself said he sought) 'dot(ting) the i's and cross(ing) the t's'.

Other performances from Japanese choirs were strikingly effective and bore out this kind of musical ambition - and without damage to the interpretative side - impeccable attention to detail. The womens's choir - Sayaka Ladies Consort - offering a contemporary piece was a case in point, mind-boggling precision in pitch and rhythmic momentum. Where these are a major emphasis in a Bach piece, I'd say on this evidence the BC will always show to advantage.

[subcontrabass]

'over 200 Bach choirs in Tokyo alone' (did I hear that aright??)...

I thought I heard 'over 100 Baroque choirs in Tokyo alone'. Whichever it was the figure is very impressive (as was Bach Collegium Japan).

[DracoM]

I was hoping for someone to explain the phenomenon rather than merely eulogise.
It also struck me how many European figures were involved in orchestra and as soloists.

[doversoul1]

This is an unfounded guess / impression so don’t quote me but if phenomenon implies that it is something that has been happening recently, whoever did the research didn’t bother to do more than scratching the surface.

Classical music in Japan has always been something that is revered and as such it has never been resented in a way it is here. People are only too keen on joining a group or society and sending children to music lesson is felt as almost obligatory by parents. What the programme probably didn’t mention (I didn’t hear the programme) is the fact that very few musical activities, if any at all, are publicly funded (I’ve checked a few groups but they all look ‘independent’). Local governments are also very keen on hosting concerts, musical event etc. Most cities and towns have at least one state-of-art concert hall and invite world-famous artists and there are queues for tickets. It makes you bright green with envy. Until you hear endless horror stories about young people left to rot in internet cafes because there is absolutely no youth policies (well, very few) to help them. Oh, and there is no NHS. Hospitals and doctors are a big and often family business.

Ah well.

[ed.] The success of the BCJ has probably helped to set the fashion but other than that, it is hardly new.

[rallentando]

Thanks for the useful contextualising, Dover.... looks like private initiative is the answer then... But seriously, the clear indication of devotion-to-the-cause, the respect everywhere in ev idence, for baroque particularly and the choral tradition at large, that came through in the performances played spoke volumes. Obviously Japanese practitioners have drawn - humbly and diligently - on the best that the West can offer in these areas in reaching these heights. From what Suzuki said they would not wish to deny this. But they've climbed their own mountain.

Pity about their hospitals/doctors/youth scene tho....

[Romero92]

I was interested for a long time, are there any christian churches in Japan where people sing? According to the history Japan isn't a christian country but perhaps there was some missions ..


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french frank

[David Underdown]

Missionary activity goes right back to the first Western contact with Japan, with the Jesuits being in the forefront. It was one of the reasons Japan ultimately severely restricted access to the country until forced to open up in the 19th century

I understand that by WWII one of the largest native Christian centres was, ironically, in Nagasaki. There is certainly a Japanese province of the Anglican Communion

[mopsus]

Nagasaki, and indeed Hiroshima also, were home to relatively large numbers of Japanese Christians because they were large ports (and therefore open to foreign influence) - something which also made them targets for bombing. (The Nagasaki bomb fell close to the city's Catholic Cathedral - the city was the sole point of contact with foreigners while Japan was 'closed'.)

I have been to Anglican, Catholic and Lutheran services in Japan, in Japanese and English. All had music (usually of Western origin), but none had a choir. At Christmas time performances of the Messiah are organised whereever this is practical - probably a number of you have sung from scores of the work with the title in Japanese in the cover and an appendix in Japanese inside.