Today marks the 1st anniversary of the death of Seiji Yokoyama, known as the composer of works including Space Pirate Captain Harlock and Saint Seiya. Though he is mainly known as a composer of incidental music for television, Seiji Yokoyama also wrote works that would be classified as classical music. “Divertimento for 2 Marimbas” is one such work, commissioned by Tomoko Kusakari and Mutsuko Fujii and composed in 1974. I think it is a masterpiece that fully brings out the appeal of the marimba as an instrument.
The performance presented here is a live performance from 1997 by Moyuru Oda and Junko Sakimura. From the little searching I did, this was the only recording of the complete work that I could find.1 The fast movements are played very fast, while the slow movements are given ample room to unfold; altogether, it is a rather gripping performance.
Please enjoy.
Footnotes
- Because it is not registered with JASRAC, perhaps performance permission cannot be obtained without a connection to either Tomoko Kusakari or Mutsuko Fujii.
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