Gagaku & Beyond
Gagakuis the oldest of Japan's performing arts, with a  history of more than 1000 years, and is the oldest living ensemble music in  the world. In its contemporary sense, the termgagakusignifies the  whole body of classical Japanese music and dance performed by the musicians  of the Kunaicho Gakubu (Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency,  Tokyo).Tokyo Gakuso is a relatively young group, founded in 1978 in  response for the need for a group of expertgagakumusicians able to  deal not only with traditional repertoire, but also with the challenges of  contemporary pieces for thegagakuensemble. Its forerunner, the  Shigenkai, was formed in the late 1950s by musicians of the Music  Department (Gakubu) of the Imperial Household Agency (Kunaicho), Tokyo, as  a means to promote the public's appreciation of the ancient art through  activities outside their official duties at the Imperial Palace. Tokyo  Gakuso was named by Toshiro Kido, at that time producer at the National  Theatre in Tokyo, and its founding music director was theshospecialist and Imperial Palace musician, Tadamaro Ohno.After his death  in 1994, his place was taken by his nephew Tadaaki Ohno, the present music  director. Like other members of the Imperial Palace group, Tadaaki Ohno has  spent a good deal of his life studying and performing on several of the  instruments, the dance, and the vocal music ofgagaku. Born in Tokyo  in 1959 into the Ohno family, one that traces its geneology back to the  late ninth century, and that has been involved in the hereditary  transmission of the art since at least the tenth century, Tadaaki may have  been fated to carry on this tradition.Since its formation, Tokyo Gakuso  has been very active in the performance of new compositions, as well as  long and rarely heard pieces from the classical repertoire. This CD marks  the first time that the musicians of the Imperial Court of Tokyo have  recorded for a non-Japanese record label, and as such is an essential  addition to the Celestial Harmonies catalogue of important cultural  documents.The pieces on this CD, performed by a fullgagakuorchestra of up to 16 musicians and over 20 instruments, are set out in an  order that reflects the typical structure of the regular spring and autumn  concerts given by the Palace musicians, which are open to the public. The  first half of these concerts is made up of akangenperformance:  severaltogakupieces in one of the sixtogakumodes,  sometimes with asaibaraorroei. On this CD we have three  pieces in the modehyojotogether with thesaibara Koromogae.  The second half of the concerts at the Imperial Music Department is  composed of abugakuperformance, as a rule two dances: atogaku(or 'Left') dance followed bykomagaku(or 'Right')  dance. On the CD we have thetogakudance Ryooand thekomagakudanceHassen. The CD finishes with the rhythmictogakupieceChogeishi, which has traditionally been played  at the conclusion of a dance performance.This rare and important  recording has been put together at the very highest level of expertise.  Booklet annotation is provided by Associate Professor Steven G. Nelson, the  only Western member of staff at the new Research Centre for Japanese  Traditional Music, Kyoto City University of Arts, Kyoto, Japan.