Maki Ishii Live

Critically acclaimed percussionist Ryan Scott is one of Canada’s most illustrious and esteemed musicians of his generation. On this CD are his first performances and the North American premieres of three Ishii Percussion Concerti, played from memory and recorded live in performance by CBC Radio 2 with the Esprit Orchestra, Canada’s only full-sized orchestra devoted exclusively to performing and promoting new orchestral music. Maki Ishii’s (1936-2003) creative endeavour was rooted in the attempt to stride two musical worlds by combining European compositional methods with elements from the sound palette of Japanese traditional music. The seldom heard music on this CD comes from a four year period in the composer’s life when he turned his attention to the art of the percussion concerto. Concertante for Marimba (1988) is an outrageously and famously virtuosic 5-octave concert grand marimba solo with 6-percussion accompaniment. South-Fire-Summer (1992) is an enormous multi-percussion and marimba solo with sparse orchestral accompaniment, which mounts to a powerful, climactic finale. Saidoki (Demon) (1989-1992) is an entirely improvised solo incorporating 3 Cidelo Ihos. These are metal sculptures co-created by Kazuo Harada and Yasunori Yamaguchi specifically to be played in Saidoki. Additionally, there is a vast selection of accompanying wood and skin instruments constructed by Ryan Scott. The orchestra parts are written meticulously and the personnel is absolutely massive: full strings, triple winds, 5 percussion, 2 harp, piano, celeste, full brass and 6 horns all spread throughout the hall and recorded on a multi-track system. The recording quality of these performances is exceptional, created by the award-winning CBC team of producer David Jaeger and recording engineers David "Stretch" Quinney, Doug Doctor, and Steve Sweeney, all of whom are widely regarded as the best in the Canadian recording industry.