Takashi Iwagami
Les Productions D’Oz: 34 pages
Japanese composer Iwagami is a new name to me and here we find a collection of 18 pieces that are intermediate in difficulty only, and all in a friendly style, no real modern mannerisms at all but rather full of nice melodies and harmonies.
So we begin with Ballade d’un Baladin (Ballad of a Wanderer) set in Am with an easy flow to it and comprising of a tune in quavers and long held notes and/or chords underneath, not difficult and a nice opening to the set. The next piece Danse d’un Baladin is a fast waltz with an imaginative set of harmonies above the usual bass/two chords style of waltz. Two further pieces involving the ‘wanderer’, the Dream of… and The Revolt of….. are quite different again, the first being a flowing melody atop a rippling accompaniment, and the second being full of staccato accents and a melody that races around. The title piece Snapshot is a lovely work set in Em, a bouncy little piece Chant du Pic with some lovely ideas, and then Habanera Glissante, which as the title suggest has a number of slides written in, and even a rag called Penguin Rag, the rhythms of which are a little daunting at first and almost certain to catch the player out initially, to name but a few.
This is a very useful book, especially for the teacher who wants to provide his pupils with some nicely written little works, and as such I can heartily recommend it as a book to look out for .
Chris Dumigan
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