The Japan Society Review 54
Book, Stage, Movie, Arts and Events Review

Issue 54 Volume 9 Number 6 (December 2014)

Wild East
Lee Sang-il’s remake of Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven reviewed
Struggle for Survival
Sir Hugh Cortazzi reviews Rana Mitter’s book on Japan’s conflict with China

In this issue of The Japan Society Review we cross genres,
reviewing a film, two books, a performance and conducting
an interview with a violinist. Our first review of Issue 54 is of
Lee Sang-il’s remake of Clint Eastwood’s critically acclaimed
film Unforgiven. Sang-il’s version sets the narrative in the eraof the Edo Shogunate, as Chris Corker assesses the balance
Unforgiven strikes between faithfulness to the source material,
and artistic decisions to leave out parts of Eastwood’s original.
Sir Hugh Cortazzi then reviews Rana Mitter’s China’s War withJapan, 1937-1945: the Struggle for Survival, a meticulously
researched history of a particularly cruel and brutal chapter
in Sino-Japanese relations. Mitter considers the period froma Chinese perspective in a brutally honest and insightfulmanner; there are no heroes in the story, only different types ofvillains. Moving on from Mitter’s book we consider a collectionof detective stories penned by Edogawa Rampo. Chris Corker
examines how Edogawa’s style and interests, particularly the
influence of English detective literary traditions as well as afascination with the macabre and grotesque, affect his latest
work. The final offering in this issue takes the form of aninterview and review by Mike Sullivan. Linking the two together
is violinist Komachi Midori, and Sullivan asks firstly about her
debut album as well as her life and development as a classicalmusician. He then moves on to review her collaboration withother perfomers as part of the group VISUALISE! at Swiss
Church London.

Contents

Guest Editor
William Cottrell

1) Unforgiven
2) China’s War with Japan, 1937-1945: the Struggle for Survival
3) The Early Cases of Akechi Kogoro
4) Interview with Komachi Midori
5) VISUALISE! At Swiss Church London

William Cottrell

Managing Editor
Isabel Barne
Reviewers
Chris Corker & Mike Sullivan
Special Reviewer
Sir Hugh Cortazzi
New reviewswww.japansociety.org.uk/resources/reviews

Unforgiven
Directed by Lee
Sang-ilBased on Clint
Eastwood’s 1992 filmof the same name
135 minutes, 2014
Review by Chris
Corker

The original versionof Unforgiven wasamajor
critical
success, hailed as
one of Clint Eastwood’s best films and considered
one of the finest westerns ever made. It didn’t glorify
violence or sugar coat any of the hard truths faced by
the killers or their victims, but had a philosophical,
existential form that was well-crafted alongside
the minimalist cinematography and dialogue. The
most surprising thing about this remake directedby Korean, Lee Sang-il, and starring WatanabeKen, is how closely it sticks to the source material,and how successfully it does so considering thewildly different settings. It may replace some of themeditative feel with a visceral aggression, which
doesn’t – despite its best attempts – make the film
any more emotionally impactful, but it still remains
incredibly close to the original.
When the Shogunate is defeated and his reason tofight has been torn away from him, Kamata Jubei(Watanabe) is forced to flee from the pursuing
opposing forces. Jubei, exhausted and clearly
desperate, defeats the soldiers in the snow-laden
woods, before disappearing.

Many years later, Jubei is now living with his twochildren on a small and remote farm, completely
isolated from the outside world. This isolation,
however, cannot hide him from his past. The
movie does a great job of recreating the small farmsetting from the original, and the wide panoramicshots in the sunset are nostalgic for those familiar
with Eastwood’s film. This familiarity can be felt
throughout the movie, with scenarios being
recreated and, more importantly, certain dialogue(or at least the translation of dialogue) being
2

identical to the original. Strangely, however, someof the more profound and memorable script (‘weall got it coming, kid,’ being a notable exception)
is absent. Watanabe, as Jubei – the name of a
traditionally heroic figure in Japanese legend –does a good job with his delivery, and portrays agrief-stricken man very well, despite lacking the
stoic presence and subtlety of acting that Eastwoodoozes. This lack of subtlety – something that critics
would say Japanese filmmaking lacks in general –does feel ill-placed in certain scenes, but the film asa whole remains understated.

It is while Watanabe is on the ranch, that his friend
Kingo (Emoto Akira) visits him and asks him for his
help with a bounty placed on two men by a groupof prostitutes. The men are said to have cut the faceof one of the women, leaving her horribly scarred.
Kingo refers to Watanabe as ‘Jubei the Killer’, giving
us an indication of his infamy. After consideration,
Jubei sets off to the town with Kingo. Here the story
diverges from the original, in which the younger
Schofield Kid tries to recruit Eastwood, before
Eastwood, as Munny, approaches his friend. This,
along with the more comic version of the kid – a
representation of the naivety and innocence that is
drawn to violence, followed by its disillusionment– creates a different dynamic among the trio. And
while the kid, played by Yagira Yuya, is probably
the weakest character, his origin and ethnicity as an
Ainu adds a new element to the story, representing
the biggest divergence from the source material.
Where the undesirable element of the original aremainly those who go from town to town and bounty
hunters, the undesirables here are the Ainu race.
The Ainu, indigenous to Japan, underwent a similar,
though less severe fate, as the Native Americans.
They were mainly shunned and ostracised,being considered little more than barbarians. In
Unforgiven, as towns grow and the expansion ofcommerce spreads throughout the forest, there
is little room left for the Ainu with their simple
practices and pagan religion. As the kid and Jubei’s
deceased wife are both of Ainu ancestry, this racial
tension between them and the authorities adds a
depth to this version that the original lacks.
Also a welcome addition to the film is the focus on
the prostitutes’ plight, as they begin to realise theIssue 54 Volume 9 Number 6 (December 2014)

tragedy they have set into motion. This is also shownin the original, although I feel that it is more fleshedout here, giving an insight into a group that wereconsidered unimportant beyond their practicaluses, considered as only slightly more deserving ofcompassion than animals.

China’s War withJapan, 1937-1945:
the Struggle for
Survival

In an age where remakes are perhaps more common
than original ideas, it is still difficult to pinpoint
exactly what it is that so often makes them inferior.
Of course, for anyone familiar with the original, theremake could never have the same initial impact.
There is also something intrinsically pointless aboutanother version of a movie that is already criticallyacclaimed and loved. The remaking of foreign films– more common in reverse, with Japanese films
being made into American – is a different challenge
altogether. A film is often made out of a social
matter that is personal to that particular country, toa set of beliefs which are indigenous there. It canfeel strange when we take those social issues andthrust them into a new environment, where they
don’t have the same gravitas. Unforgiven, however,has done very well with these challenges, creatinga new tension and doing a great job of transferring
the remainder into a foreign context. Perhaps this isa testament to the universal appeal of the original.
This transference, however, is where most of thefilm’s strengths and weaknesses lie. The kid, forexample, has undergone a necessary transformation– an aspiring samurai would make a lot less sense inan age where they are becoming obsolete, than an
aspiring cowboy assassin – and his Ainu roots create
an interesting tension. In this process, however, he
has also become more comical, less believable andlikeable, making his later regret less meaningful.

Penguin, 2014by Rana MitterISBN 978-0-141-03145-3
Review by Sir HughCortazziThis is a meticulously
researched history ofa cruel and tragic war
which, in the histories of the Second World War, hasoften been overshadowed by the battles in Europe
and the Pacific. As Rana Mitter points out, theseeight years of fighting caused some 14 million
deaths, vast flows of refugees, misery, famine andthe destruction of much of China’s embryonic
infrastructure. The war enabled the Chinese
Communist Party to seize power and destroy the
Chinese Nationalists.
Rana Mitter, who is the Director of Oxford
University’s China Centre and a fellow of St Cross
College, observes that the story of China’s war withJapan is ‘crucial to understanding the rise of China
as a global power.’ In his view it must ‘restore China
to its place as one of the four principal wartime
allies.’As the title implies Mitter looks at the conflictfrom a Chinese perspective and his main focus
is understandably on China and the impact of
events elsewhere on China. He has put together acompelling narrative and has drawn on a wealth oforiginal documents as well as referring extensively
to secondary sources.
He clearly sets out the background to the conflictand notes that Japanese modernization after the
Meiji restoration became a model for China. Indeed,
many Chinese nationalist leaders including Sun
Yat-sen, the founder of the Nationalist movement,
studied in Japan.

Overall, this remake does a great job of transforminga familiar idea into a new context. With its amazing
scenery and impressive cinematography, it is atreat for the eyes, but it lacks some of the depth
and philosophy that Eastwood’s film seemed tointertwine so effortlessly. Fans of the original may
find certain scenes and dialogue nostalgic, but
those same fans may wonder about those that are
missing. §Issue 54 Volume 9 Number 6 (December 2014)

He deals briefly with the ‘Manchurian Incident’ andother developments leading to clashes between
Japan and China prior to the so-called Marco Polobridge incident in 1937. This marks the beginningof the war although the Japanese did not formallydeclare war until much later. The Nationalists led by
Chiang Kai-shek had adopted a policy of ‘avoiding
public confrontation with Japan’ while preparing forthe inevitable conflict. The Japanese took advantageof what they saw as Chinese weakness and inflictedhumiliations on the Chinese. In Mitter’s view ‘if the3

Japanese had stayed content with their alreadypowerful control over North China in 1933, and notsought to advance further into the mainland, thewar which would eventually consume much of thecontinent of Asia might have been averted’ (p. 59).

The Chinese were never in a position until the very
end to do more than delay the Japanese advances.
However, the Japanese for their part, althoughultimately they controlled vast swathes of China,
never had the resources to bring China effectively
under Japanese rule. The Japanese military werearrogant and greedy but unrealistic about how far
they could achieve their objectives.
There are lots of villains but no heroes in this book.
All the main leaders emerge as tainted and flawed.
Roosevelt was a consummate politician but failed
to understand the extent of China’s problems andhow best to deal with Chiang Kai-shek. For Churchill,
China’s war was a sideshow and Chiang Kai-shek
felt that Churchill treated him with disdain. But themost insensitive and arrogant of the westerners
with whom the Chinese had to deal was General
Stilwell, known as ‘Vinegar Joe’ who clashedconstantly with Chiang for whom he was supposedto act as chief of staff and whom he called ‘peanut.’
It is hard to believe that Stilwell, who was selectedby General Marshall, was allowed to remain for solong in Chongqing poisoning US–China relations.
While Mitter has some sympathy for Chiang in
his perils and difficulties, he exposes clearly themistakes made by Chiang and his coterie and thecruelties inflicted on the Chinese people as a resultof Nationalist mistakes and ruthlessness. Not least ofthese was the decision, in a vain attempt to defend
Wuhan, to destroy the dykes on the Yellow River in1938.
A myth, still believed by some but exposed byMitter, is that Mao Zedong and his communist
army in Yan’an contributed much more than the
Nationalists to the fight against the Japanese. Whilethe communists were quite effective in guerrilla
warfare, Mao preferred to keep his forces in reserve
for the post-war battle for supremacy in China.
Wang Jingwei, who had been Chiang’s rival for
leadership of the Nationalists and who defected to
the Japanese, set up a Vichy style regime in Nanjing.
Mitter points out that the Japanese, despite theirpropaganda about Asia for the Asians, did little toboost Wang’s position.
As Mitter records in telling detail, none of the three
rival regimes could claim any kind of democratic
legitimacy. All three had their own particularly nasty
secret police apparatus.
4

Mitter’s narrative inevitably contains much about
Japanese atrocities in China. The chapter on the
Nanjing massacre is particularly searing as it draws
extensively on western witnesses. He notes that
the Chinese were not faultless. But ‘their missteps
were the result of a war they had never sought. In
contrast, the Japanese behaviour was inexcusable’(p. 137). There may be questions over the numbers
killed by the rampaging Japanese soldiers, but theattempt by Japanese revisionists to deny the facts
simply add fuel to the fires of Chinese resentment.
But there were many other incidents to arouse
Chinese hatred, including the indiscriminate andrelentless Japanese air attacks on Chonqing, which
led to appalling loss of life and predated the German
and later Allied use of saturation bombing.
This book only tells the story from the Chinese
angle. I would like to see a study of the conflict,which analyses the views of developments in China
recorded in the files of the Far Eastern Department of
the Foreign Office. Mitter is generally contemptuousof comments by British diplomats in China, but not
all looked at China with an imperial gaze. There weresome realistic China experts. While Britain recognized
the Chinese Communist Government soon after it
had won the civil war, it took the Americans until
1972, when President Nixon visited China, to cometo terms with the Chinese Communist victory. I
would also be interested in seeing the extent towhich Japanese officials recognized the quagmire
in China into which they were being drawn by the
military. It is never easy to tell politicians what they
don’t want to hear and such memos may well havebeen suppressed or destroyed.
This book should be on the reading list of all students
of modern Japanese history and of international
relations in the Far East. §The Early Cases of
Akechi Kogorō
by Edogawa Rampo
Kurodahan Press, 2014
ISBN-10: 4902075628
Review by Chris Corker

Edogawa Rampo (18941965) is one of thefounding fathers ofJapanese
detective
novels. A prolific writer,
he wrote over one
hundred and fifty short stories and novels in his longcareer. Like many famous Japanese novelists, heIssue 54 Volume 9 Number 6 (December 2014)

attended Waseda University but studied economics
rather than English literature. Influenced by earlytranslations of Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan
Poe, he became fond of the gritty, dark nature ofwestern murder mysteries. Edogawa unashamedlyreferences these works, especially Poe – whosename is anagrammed to create Edogawa’s own pen
name – in his own stories. This is apt given both
authors exhibit a penchant for the grotesque andmacabre that can at times discomfort the reader.
The detective, Akechi Kogorō is very much mouldedin the image of Sherlock Holmes, on the one handquick and ingenious, on the other eccentric andhaughty. When taken to an extreme, Akechi’s lack ofhumility and gloating over even the small victories
can wear thin. Perhaps this is because these fourstories, each early works that the author condemned
as “failures”, do not focus overly on Akechi, instead
preferring to rely, as Conan Doyle did, on a less thanbrilliant sidekick. Without the requisite column
inches, Akechi is left to revel in his own ingenuity
only in brief snatches or bloated denouements.
The sidekicks are relatable enough in their way andserve their purpose as narrators that are not privy toall of Akechi’s dealings, creating an air of mystery. A
certain amount of suspension of belief is necessary,
however, as they repeatedly choose not to reportfacts to the police and attempt their own haplessand ineffectual investigations, eventually passing
the baton to Akechi, who fits the pieces together
and takes the credit.
There are four cases in all. The first, ‘Murder on D Hill’,begins by listing the facts of the case in the style ofa police report. The narrator here is a young man
out of university but without a job, an acquaintanceof Akechi Kogorō. As rumours circulate of womenappearing at the bathhouse covered in bruises,
the wife of a bookshop owner is found strangled
to death. When Akechi himself comes undersuspicion, he must clear his name and point to thereal murderer. Both here and in ‘The Dwarf’, we findthat Akechi takes little pleasure in discovering themurderer and actually sympathises with the culprit.
In ‘The Black Hand Gang’, a string of abductions
and robberies have the city on edge. Amidst theconfusion, the narrator’s cousin is taken and his
uncle beaten up. When the cousin is not returnedeven after the ransom has been paid, Akechi iscalled in as an advisor. An inspection of the ransom
handover point reveals only the uncle’s and theservant’s footprints. This case is the weakest of thecollection and its resolution involves a cryptogram
based entirely on the Japanese writing system,
which gets somewhat lost in translation and will be
Issue 54 Volume 9 Number 6 (December 2014)

lost on anyone not familiar with Japanese.
‘The Ghost’, ostensibly the story of a haunting,stands apart from the other cases. When his fierce
rival dies, the successful and wealthy businessman
Hirata believes that he can rest easy. His peace,
however, is disturbed when he receives a letterfrom the dead man, promising that he will kill himfrom the afterlife. Having wronged his rival in thepast, the subsequent torment has every indicationof being karmic for Hirata, who sees his dead rival’s
face wherever he goes. This creepy tale is written
predominantly from the perspective of the isolated
and jittery Hirata. ‘The Ghost’ is almost entirely
bereft of Akechi until the final pages when theunderwhelming conclusion is reached with a few
simple enquiries.
‘The Dwarf’ is the longest and strongest detective
story of the four. It does a good job of leading thereader down various avenues of thought, only to be
dropped back at the edge of the maze. Amongst
the backdrop of a night of vagrancy, arrests anddirt, the narrator sees a dwarf drop a human handout of his pocket. Following him, he sees the dwarf
enter a temple. Returning the next day, however,he finds that no-one in the temple or in the local
area has ever seen him. Soon after, as a young girlis reported missing, a human arm is found affixed
to a mannequin in a department store. When thefingerprints match with those of the missing girl,everyone assumes the worst. Akechi, however, is
not so sure. ‘The Dwarf’ employs a third-person
narrative that switches scenes often, allowing
the reader to know things that the protagonists
do not, as well as giving them an insight into thecriminal’s world. Despite the reader again needing
to employ suspension of disbelief as every character
except Akechi flaps about and makes questionabledecisions, the conclusion to ‘The Dwarf’ is far moresatisfying than in the other stories.
In ‘Murder on D Hill’, it was understandable that
Akechi may have felt sympathy with the murderer
whereas in ‘The Dwarf’, it is almost incomprehensible. It isalso going against his earlier assertions. Throughout
the story it is the dwarf who is the contemptible one,his unseemly appearance acting only to highlight his
even uglier character. Perhaps a product of its times,
political correctness is rarely observed, referring to
the dwarf as both ‘a deformed child’ and his face as‘a wasp spider that had been crushed by a foot.’
Ugliness is a staple of Edogawa, however – he isfascinated by it, often juxtaposing it with beauty,
blending the grotesque and the erotic.

5‘[...] he also had a desire, like an ache, to see thelady’s flustered condition alongside to that hideous
dwarf.’
It’s difficult to recommend The Early Cases of Akechi
Kogorō as an entry point to the works of Edogawa
Rampo. It is explained in an introduction that focusesheavily on the merits of later work, not available
here, that the character of Akechi here bears little
resemblance to the one that readers have come tolove in literature and film. While ‘The Dwarf’ does
do a good job of building tension and deceiving
the reader until the last, the other three stories feelrushed, the revelation of clues feeling more like astatement of facts rather than a source of surprise.
A few spelling and grammar mistakes also break theflow of the narrative, along with some confusing
dialogue where the interlocutor is not clear.
Anyone already familiar with the Akechi series
may enjoy seeing the origins of the character, but
newcomers should look to better-known works.
Lovers of bizarre mysteries and the grotesque
may find something to love here and ‘The Dwarf’,in particular, is a sound and sometimes intriguingstory. Despite this, it is hard to argue with theauthor’s condemnation of his own stories. §An Interview
with Violinist
Komachi Midori
Interview by
Mike Sullivan

Komachi Midori isan up and coming
violinist
whose
debut album wasreleased in April,
and who regularly
holds concerts around the world. She completed
her Master of Music degree at the Royal Academyof Music in 2012, and has won many prizes suchas the Sir Arthur Bliss Prize and the MBF Emerging
Excellence Award. She has developed a cultural
exchange project in the UK and Japan which has
involved working with composers from bothcountries. In the last couple of years, she has not
only led a series of workshops with composers
Nicola LeFanu and Takechi Yuka, but also worked
with Hosokawa Toshio. She took time out of herbusy schedule to answer our questions for thelatest Japan Society interview.

from the Royal Academy of Music in 2012, and since thenhave been freelancing with various concert projects in
Europe and Japan. Before coming to the UK in 2002, I
previously lived in Switzerland and Hong Kong, as wellas in Japan for just a few years, where I was born. I enjoy
having a combination of different kinds of performance
platforms, including recitals, chamber music concertsand educational workshops. In recent years, I havedeveloped several concert projects that express thesignificance of collaborations between artists, andwhich also explore the historical context that gives afascinating insight into our understanding of musicalwork. I have also founded a cultural exchange project
between UK and Japan, as I am interested in developing
closer links between composers, performers and theaudience in both countries, through cultural exchanges
in classical music.

This month your first album, with Simon
Callaghan, is being released. How did thiscollaboration come about?
Back in 2012, I was starting to develop my concert
project, Delius and Gauguin, which explores the
special exchanges between composers and artists
centred around the English composer Frederick
Delius, and painter Paul Gauguin. I was introduced
to Simon by the Delius Society, as he had previously
recorded two discs of Delius’s works. We performeda series of concerts in the UK as part of the Delius
and Gauguin project. It was such an exciting process
for me to collaborate with Simon – his fantastic
sound and sensitive playing really stimulateda ‘conversational’ partnership throughout our
performances.
What is the meaning of the album title Colours ofthe Heart?
The album is based on the colourful inspiration
shared by Delius and Gauguin, and their friends:
Ravel, Grieg and Debussy. Delius admired Gauguin’s
paintings, and was the first owner of Gauguin’s
Nevermore. Gauguin also intended to express
emotions, like music, through his colours. There isa quote by Gauguin, which I believe is a concept
valued by all of the composers in this album: ‘Colouris the language of the listening eye.’ Ironically,
Delius was blind and paralyzed when he wrote the
3rd Violin Sonata – so in fact he could no longer see
the colours that he loved. Despite this tragic fate,
his music became liberated in an infinite world of
colours. This was my inspiration for the title – thatcolours, both in music and art, are an expression
from the heart.

Please tell us about your background.
I am a concert violinist based in London. I graduated6

Issue 54 Volume 9 Number 6 (December 2014)

On the release date of this album you also hada launch recital, how did you feel about doing a
concert to launch your first album?
The launch recital was held to introduce the CD andworks by Delius to a wider audience. I have been
supported by the Arts Council England and also
the Delius Trust to give a series of concerts in the
UK this spring, along with the release of the CD. My
wish is to invite a wider audience to encounter the
fascinating music and life of Delius. Throughout the
project I intend to communicate in close distancewith my audience, through talks, concerts and liner
notes on the CD. I hope that the audience can also
experience the sensation I gained through seeing
Nevermore and hearing Delius’s music.
You perform a lot every year
in both Japan and the UK,
as well as other countries,
are there any particularconcerts which stick out foryou?
This is very hard to pick,as there are many special
moments and many funny
backstage episodes to tell!
But one which remains
close to my heart is theperformanceof
ToshioHosokawa’s Elegy for Solo
Violin at Tokyo Opera City inDecember 2013. As I had theopportunity to rehearse thispiece with the composer andgain an insightful guidance
through his music onseveral occasions, this was aspecial opportunity for me to bring immediacy in
Hosokawa’s sound world. It is a beautiful piece,
resembling a song of a human voice in search forthe dead spirit. This was programmed in an ‘English
inspired’ recital of works by Elgar, Delius, Holst,
Ernst and Britten. Having lived outside of Japan for
most of my life, the piece also brought me to therealisation of my Japanese identity as a violinist.
Are there any differences between a British
audience and a Japanese audience?
I don’t find many differences when performing, as
audiences in both countries are appreciative and‘well mannered’! However, I do have a strong wish
that there will be more interest in English music in
Japan, and Japanese contemporary music in the UK.
I hope I could continue to introduce these works inboth countries in the future.
Issue 54 Volume 9 Number 6 (December 2014)

How did it feel to perform with Tarō Hakase at the
special charity concert at Cadogan Hall in 2012
to raise money for the 2011 Tohoku earthquake
victims?
The whole experience was very touching. Back thenI was still a student at Royal Academy of Music, andit was exciting to perform together with Tarō andfellow Japanese musicians from RAM. Throughout
the performance and the live broadcast on‘Jounetsu Tairiku’, there was a sense of strong hopethat the collective energy from every musician, andthe audience, could reach the people in Tohoku.
You also participated in the Music of Britain andJapan – A Cultural Exchange in 2011, can you tell
us about the background behind this project andyour involvement?
This was a research-based
concert project I founded in2011, after being inspiredby the extraordinary cultural
exchanges between Britain andJapan since the ‘Japanese Village’
was built in Knightsbridgein 1885. I was intrigued to
discover the influence of theseexchanges in classical music, inboth countries. The influence of‘Japonism’ has been previously
explored in French music, but
not so much in British music. It
was interesting to find British
roots in the development ofclassical music in Japan in theearly 20th Century – in Kōsaku
Yamada’s compositions, forexample. I introduced these
historical and cultural exchanges through a recitalprogramme in London. As a result, I received the
Friends of RAM Development Award for my researchand initiative.
On the 2nd of May you will be performing at St.
James Piccadilly in London, do you have other
London concerts planned?
The concert on 2nd May is the last concert inthe concert series in London this season. I will
be performing outside London in June and July,
including a very exciting programme at the
National Trust’s Leith Hill Place in Surrey. In October
I will have a recital in London at the Royal Over-Seas
League with the renowned pianist Ian Brown. I amvery much looking forward to sharing the stage
with him! §7

VISUALISE! At Swiss Church London
With Komachi Midori, Belle Chen, Olivia
Geiser and Lydia CS
2014
Review by Mike Sullivan

VISUALISE! is a recent performance group thathas come together in order to provide a newperspective on how classical music is experienced
by the current generation. They work on bringing
classical musicians together with visual andperformance artists, thus creating a new medium
in which the audience can enjoy both music andlive art. On the 14th of August they had an event
at Swiss Church London, there has been a Swiss
church for over 250 years which still today freely
welcomes anyone who wants to enter their doors.
As part of their mission aims they invite artists to
exhibit, and have performances by musicians withlinks to Switzerland.
You may wonder why this event is being coveredby the Japan Society Review, but in fact a musician
who we interviewed earlier this year also performedat this event due to her studies in Zurich. Komachi
Midori is a very gifted young lady whose debut
album, Colours of the Heart with Simon Callaghan,came out in April. At that time she had the following
to say:‘I enjoy having a combination of different kinds ofperformance platforms, including recitals, chambermusic concerts and educational workshops. In recent
years, I have developed several concert projects that
express the significance of collaborations between
artists, and which also explore the historicalcontext that gives a fascinating insight into ourunderstanding of musical work.’
VISUALISE! at Swiss Church really showed her
dedication to being involved in a different kindof performance, and alongside fellow musicians
Belle Chen on the piano, and Olivia Geiser, also
on the piano, it was a really unique concert. Belle
Chen is also the organiser behind VISUALISE! and,along with Olivia Geiser, was a co-curator for thisevent entitled ‘Swiss Summer Nights in London.’Belle Chen has performed around the world andstudied at the Royal Academy of Music in London,
she has won numerous prizes and is connected tomany projects. Olivia Geiser studied at the Zurich
University of Arts also studied at the Royal Academyof Music.

artistic aspect of this event. The artist Lydia CS createdan animated visual video which played out on theback of the church behind the ‘Swiss mountains’
which the objects on the floor represented. The art
worked to recreate the passing of time as a sunny
afternoon turned to night. A notable touch was as
the day outside turned to night and our performers
reached their ‘night-time’ section, the visual artists
placed candles across the floors and lit up themusicians with a light.
In terms of music we were treated to Charles
Samuel Bovy-Lysberg’s Fantaisie sur des airs Suisses
performed by Olivia Geiser, Vaughan Williams’ The
Lark Ascending for Violin and Piano performed byMidori Komachi and Belle Chen and Frank Bridge’s
Poems for Piano performed by Olivia. After a break
we listened to Britten’s Suite for Violin and Piano,
Op. 6 by Midori and Belle, and Volkmar Andreae’s
Piano Pieces, Op. 20 by Olivia. A final, very interestingpiece of music was played by both pianists together,which for me, certainly, was a first! Olivia and Belleperformed Hans Huber’s Ländler vom Luzernersee
for four hands, Op. 15.
It was a very interesting event. For most people
when you picture a classical music concert it would
consist of just musicians playing their instruments,
which there is nothing wrong with, but thecomplimentary visual performance certainly gave it
a new angle. Of course, for a Japan Society writerthe highlight was to listen to a performance which
included rising starlet Komachi Midori, and inparticular The Lark Ascending for Violin and Piano
was a really outstanding piece of music to listen to.
We can look forward to future events by VISUALISE!
as well as Komachi Midori’s next concert.§

The audience members were greeted into theperformance area by the sight of mountain-likeobjects which served as the backdrop behind theIssue 54 Volume 9 Number 6 (December 2014)