Finally a blog about film scores! I'm sorry I've had to use this blog space as a place to do homework assignments but I'm finally back, continuing my exploration of the concert career of Japanese film composer Toshiru Mayuzumi.
I did actually buy a CD with some of Mayuzumi's orchestral concert music on NAXOS (8.557693) conducted by Takuo Yuasa. The earliest piece of music I was able to hear so far was from 1948. It is a short orchestral piece called Rumba Rhapsody. A rumba is the slowest of five Afro-Cuban ballroom dances. The other dances are the paso double, cha cha cha, samba and the jive. The dance comes from Cuba before the revolution.
Here is a rather sexy video of the rumba:
Why, you ask, would a Japanese composer be interested in a Cuban dance? As we will see, Mayuzumi was very interested in exotic things. His dad was a sea-captain and inspired his interest in foreign parts of the world. We will see this interest in exotic things throughout his career, even in the movies he would score for in the future. Because his dad was away from home a lot, a a child, Mayuzumi would dream of the places his father might be traveling to. Later in life, he would explore exotic subjects as a way to feel a connection with hid dad.
Rumba Rhapsody starts off sounding a lot like Rite of Spring Stravinsky. This is no surprise because Mayazumi was introduced to the music of Stravinsky, Debussy and Ravel when he attended the Tokyo Music School in 1945 and studied under Qunihico Hashimoto. Hashimoto became a role model for Mayuzumi in many ways, influencing his politics as well as the way he dressed. Perhaps Hashimoto became a bit of a father figure for Mayazumi.
Hashimoto had Mayuzumi compose in every style, from pop music to more progressive pieces. This helps explain the scores Mayazumi wrote for Koreyoshi Kurahara in the sixties (from the Eclipse set The Warped World of Koreyoshi Kurahara that we will be looking at soon) with their wide variety of musical styles. Mayuzumi's love for exoticism would give his music a richness and variety that made it unique.
I don't know if he was quite there yet with Rumba Rhapsody but the piece is certainly delightful and accesable to any open minded listener. If you have a taste for the Exotica movement in the late 50's and early 60's you will really enjoy the piece. (Think Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman Dick Schory and RCA Living Stereo) After the Stravinsky-esque opening, you can imagine you're sitting in your art deco living room with some colorful cocktail in hand enjoying the "hi-fi".
The only difference is that there is nothing corny or substandard about this music. The music is expertly orchestrated, and the Stravinsky influence shows Mayuzumi was not just a lounge lizard. I like that he wasn't afraid to let all his influences show here.
You can buy the whole CD or download it from amazon for less than seven bucks and I would suggest you do.
Join me next time when we continue to explore the life and music of Toshiru Mayuzumi by taking a look at his next orchestral piece Symphonic Mood.
