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How 3 Months Behind Japan's Closed Borders Became 21 Concerts with 5 Orchestras
By John Axelrod, Musical AmericaFebruary 8, 2022
American conductor John Axelrod arrived in Kyoto, Japan, from
Switzerland in time for the requisite ten-day quarantine before hisappearance on the podium of the City of Kyoto SymphonyOrchestra, November 27 and 28. His next scheduled engagement,with the Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra in Hiroshima, wasto be December 12 and, since Japan had just closed its borders dueto the Omicron surge, he remained.
As it happened, several of the country’s major orchestras, including
Tokyo’s big three, had some high-profile international conductors
scheduled to appear in the coming months. With those maestros
now unable to enter the country, Axelrod found himself in an
exceptionally rare position: a foreign national conducting threeconsecutive programs with the NHK Symphony Orchestra andmaking his debuts with the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra
and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, all in the space of a few months.
Herewith, his observations.

Three months behind closed borders due to the Omicron
variant revealed some intriguing differences among the styles, personalities, and repertoire
among Japan’s orchestras—all witnessed from best seat in the house: the podium.
The City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra, of which I am principal guest conductor, is based in acity whose cultural identity traces to the ancient seat of the emperor and the geisha district ofGion. The orchestra, among the best in western Japan, is as cultivated in color, rich in sound,noble in posture, and proud, as any capital should be. The November 27 and 28 concerts I ledfeatured Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, with concertmaster Takashi Izuhara and the Germanic horn
section leading the work to its climactic conclusion. But what stole the show was the premiere ofThe Samurai of Seville, by Jose Maria Gallardo del Rey, a double concerto for koto andFlamenco guitar, with a narrator, based on the 2017 novel by John J. Healey. Together, the twostring instruments led the orchestra in the tale of the 22 Japanese warriors who sailed toSeville, Spain, in 1614. Most returned to Japan, but six stayed behind; their descendants
survive them to this day.
On to Tokyo

The next stop on my unanticipated tour marked my debut on the podium of the Tokyo
Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, which I found to be its own, complete instrument, shaped byits great Chief Conductor Kazushi Ono. The style of the orchestra is adventurous, curious, andprecise. Never have I heard such a theatrical yet finely tuned Stravinsky Firebird--menacing,mesmerizing, and mellifluous.
The Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, next on my itinerary for no less than six
performances, is led by Sebastian Weigle and so is very much a German tradition orchestra.
Yusuke Hayashi and Kota Nagahara shared concertmaster duties for the annual daiku:
Beethoven's Symphony 9, Choral. Among the six iterations, we together found new details anddiscoveries in this too often played masterpiece, making it an absolute pleasure.
I know the NHK Symphony Orchestra well, having a relationship a decade long. Our threehttps://www.musicalamerica.com/news/printarticle.cfm?sid=49570&cid=2&arc=0

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December and January programs included the annual Strauss waltzes and polkas for the NewYear, coupled in a beautiful Viennese way with Mahler's 4th Symphony, sung by the radiant
Maki Mori. Yomiuri Nippon concertmaster Kota Nagahara was with the NHK as guest
concertmaster for the devilish dance of Mahler 4, and we forged an uncommon bond fromworking together with two different orchestras on two massive pieces in such a short period.
NHK is virtuosic, on the level of Berlin and Vienna, New York and London. The experience wasexhilarating.
And speaking of brilliant concertmasters, with the January 21 and 22 NHK concerts I finally had
the opportunity to collaborate with Fuminori Maro Shinozaki, in Brahms’s Third Symphony andthe Bruch Violin Concerto. He is a great violinist, but also a respected leader who not only
guides the NHK under its chief conductors, but also governs it with absoluteprofessionalism. From the podium, a conductor can thus rest assured that the ensemble isprepared and will play with purpose. That is a pleasure that knows no limits.
The final programs with the NHK, Prokofiev's Symphony No. 5 and Piano Concerto No. 3 (withTakahiro Yoshikawa), January 26 and 27, might have demonstrated the sovereignty of theorchestra’s repertoire, from Austro-Germanic to Russian, if an outbreak of Covid within theorchestra had not led to their cancelation.
With both the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra (January 28-31) and the Tokyo Metropolitan
Symphony Orchestra (February 11), I conclude my Japan journey with Tchaikovsky's Symphony
4, arguably one of the greatest symphonic showpieces of the repertoire. I conducted it at one
time on tour with the NHK and at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, with the great Rainer
Küchl of the Vienna Philharmonic as concertmaster. From that frame of reference, I’ve beenable to compare and consult with the concertmasters of both orchestras to find a sound andstyle that matches the needs and mood of the moment. It’s been an invaluable experience, anda completely unexpected one at that.

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