Opera Fantasies: 高須博

It is a CD of Hiroshi Takasu after a long time. As usual, Takasu collected only super difficult pieces of music that no body would attempt (could attempt) and has splendidly played them completely. All pieces are what Liszt arranged each scene of opera. Especially, the youthful works of Liszt that require stamina such as the second number Robert le Diable and the fourth number Niobe are a daring and aggressive performance. He is born in 1956 and far from young, and it is even wondering how on earth he plays piano with his small body. However, he is not only a very healthy pianist who simply plays difficult pieces of music energetically. In the first number Trovratore and the third number Lucia, you can listen to the rich singing that is only possible for those who do know opera very well. In the famous duet number La ci darem la mano to be appeared in the middle of the fifth number Don Giovanni, he played the singing voices of Don Giovanni and Zerlina splendidly with difference respectively and you can certainly enjoy the chase of two. While there are many pianists who just strike notes of chords violently in the same last scene of Don Giovanni, we must surprise at Takasu's ability to form dramatic and intelligent structure. Also, the beauty of soft sounds in high-tone range is magnificent. The unique sounds that once surprised engineers of NHK as Great carrying sounds! They can be broadcast without echo. is alive. (Normally, the sounds of the piano recorded in studio are broadcast with echo. Otherwise, the sounds get thinner like crisp sounds.) It is an episode that explains how the sounds of Takasu are rich. In this way, the audience will be under magic spell of Takasu and manipulated up and down freely by Takasu like a small ship tossing on the large waves. With his performance using great techniques, he is really worthy to be called as a person of exceptional talent and wizard.