Takemitsu From me flows what you call time and Shostakovitch Symphony No. 5

Takemitsu From me flows what you call time and Shostakovitch Symphony No. 5. Yutaka Sado conducts his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in 2011 at the Berlin Philharmonie.  The Takemitsu piece features the entire percussion section of the Philharmoniker:  Raphael Haeger, Simon Rössler, Franz Schindlbeck, and Jan Schlichte with Wieland Welzel (one of the timpani players). Directed by Michael Beyer; produced by Grete Liffers. Released in 2011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound. Grade: B for Takemitsu  Grade: ___ for Shostakovich

This was a special performance to raise relief funds for the people of Japan following the earthquakes and tsunami of March 2011. The event took place on May 20, 2011. The title was released less than 6 months later on November 15, and I got it from my vendor on November 25, 2011. That a tight supply chain!

Not many Westerners are familiar with the music of Tōru Takemitsu. But readers of this website know about his My Way of Life opera or staged concert spectacular, which was presented in Berlin by the Staatskapelle in 2004. Also, if you have seen many Japanese motions pictures, you may know more about Takemitsu than you realize because Tōru was Japan's leading composer of film scores and wrote the music for many of the most famous Japanese movies.

From me flows what you call time was scored for a large variety of Eastern percussion instruments and symphony orchestra. Some of the instruments look pretty exotic; others look exactly like the wind chimes hanging from the eave of my back porch. The percussionists of the orchestra wear special colorful coats and there are other props that make this performance unique. The music is fasinating and easy to enjoy. Still, much of this would be lost in sound recording only; it's strikingly (pardon pun) beautiful on HDVD. (This also could maybe be a good way to trick a teen into watching a bit of classical music.)

The Philharmoniker picked the  Shostakavich Symphony No. 5 to finish out the program because, I surmise, it is a relatively modern Western piece that was written in response to extremely daunting public events in the life of the composer. Yutaka Sado also states in the bonus feature that he hears this piece differently (following the Japanese tsunami)  in that it now "reminds me to pray." Sado also relates in the bonus that he first formed the ambition to conduct the Berlin Philharmoniker when he was 11 years old. This explains the tremendous emotion displayed by Sado as he  conducts the Philharmoniker for the first time in his career.

We already have at this writing two other wonderful HDVDs of the Shostakavich Symphony No. 5 : a "Keeping Score" version with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas (graded "A") and a Seiji Ozawa version with the Saito Kinen Orchestra (graded "A+"). But there is room for another because this EuroArts disc is the first from a label that's easily available in the West at a popular price. And, thanks to the stars above, this title doesn't seem to have any quality defects of the sort that are all-too-common with the EuroArts recordings.

I just did a movement-by-movement shoot out of the three Shostakavich S5 recordings just mentioned. I give the Berliner Philharmoniker an "A+" grade.  If I could only have one of these three titles, I would by a narrow margin go for the Berliner Philharmoniker. The video picture is not as good as that provided by NHK on the Saito Kinen recording. Also, subject title was not recorded with 96 kHz/24 bit technology as was the Saito Kinen job. But I prefer the Berliner Philharmoniker performance and the miking and mixing of the sound recording over all competition. Also, Sado gets more emotion from his players than the other conductors with big dynamic changes along with wonderful soloist and section playing. Sado is a tall, strapping, cheerful man who leaps in the air (like an athlete blocking a shot) when he orders the percussionist to hit the bass drum as hard as he can. It could be dangerous to let this guy down, so the Berlin players respond with explosions of panache. During the final applause, the members of the orchestra first seem to be affected by a bit of shock and awe, but after a few moments, they start clapping for each other.

Coming back down to earth, I'll mention that this disc has some nice shots of the Philharmonie Concert Hall, made from the rear of the stage,  that show the architecture and seating arrangements in this very unusual building. The audience is mostly dressed is spring casual, but the cameramen also found some nice kimonos.