—Mie Saito Marimba Recital: A Wind from Gaul—
The Pavane was like Gould. Notes played with soft mallets, without rolls, dissolved one by one into the space of the wooden church before Christmas, leaving behind transparent time.
Mie Saito’s marimba recital, A Wind from Gaul, held at St. Paul’s Church in Asagaya on December 20, fully demonstrated the warmth of the marimba’s quiet tones. Because the marimba is a wooden percussion instrument, there is a strong tendency to imagine it being played with the hard, clattering, quick sound of a xylophone. Mie Saito’s marimba, by contrast, brings subtlety and softness entirely to the fore.
This was already clear from piece No. 1 on the program, but what especially made me catch my breath was Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte, which concluded the first half. Ravel himself orchestrated the work, and it is often performed with the orchestra’s richly expressive colors. Yet in Motoi Yokoya’s arrangement and Mie Saito’s performance, it became starkly austere, allowing the original work’s restrained sorrow to spill from the spaces between the notes. The performance, in which carefully spun wooden tones without rolls were allowed to disappear into the space, recalled the Aria from Gould’s late recording of the Goldberg Variations.
After that, expectations for the Bach following the intermission inevitably rose. Saito again gave a subtle performance, but perhaps because of her insistence on softness of tone, the Chaconne lacked a little severity and left me somewhat unsatisfied. In the final chorale, however, this austerity once again exerted its full effect and led me into a transparent space.
It was an evening that seemed, in an instant, to wash clean a heart numbed by the noise of everyday life.
In Peru, 380 hostages were still being held at the Japanese Embassy. I wished I could have delivered this sound to them.
(Natsuhiko Sakimura)
Mie Saito
Marimba Recital
—A Wind from Gaul—December 20, 1996
St. Paul’s Church
(Asagaya, Tokyo)
NOEL
Dision nau a pleine teste (C.Sermisy 1490-1562)
Dieus soit en cheste maison (A de la Halle 1240-1287)Children\’s Corner – Petite suite pour piano seul (C. Debusy 1862-1918)
Pavane pour une Infante Defunte (M. Ravel 1875-1937)
*** intermission ***
Praludium unt Fuge No.21 B-dur ~ Das Wohltemperierte Clavier ~
Ciaccona d-moll BWV 1004 ~Partita II fur Violino solo~
Choral Nr.33 ~ Ich will dich mit Fleiss bewahren
from Weihnachts Oratorium
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