Makoto Nakura
Marimba
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Review: Marimbist Makoto Nakura in Montgomery
March 18, 2011, 12:00 am
Review: Marimbist Makoto Nakura in Montgomery
By JAMES F. COTTER
For the Times Herald-Record
Published: 2:00 AM - 03/15/11
MONTGOMERY — Mesmerizing and hypnotic are words that come to mind when listening to Makoto Nakura play the marimba, a modern version of an ancient xylophone with roots in Africa and Latin America. The Grand Montgomery Chamber Music and Theater Series featured this unusual artist Sunday afternoon in a free concert recital at the Senior Center. The Japanese native is an international star for his mastery of the marimba which he plays in a variety of styles, from Bach and classical to modern and popular. A number of contemporary composers have written works specifically for him to perform.
The large percussion instrument has rosewood bar keys struck by mallets tipped with yarn-wrapped rubber, and its sounds reverberate through metal-tube resonators with vibrant energy and pianistic clarity. With one to two mallets in each hand, Nakura displayed his virtuosity Sunday by offering a gamut of selections, beginning with Bach's Violin Partita No. 3 in E major, transcribed by Nakura himself. The upbeat prelude is followed by five dances, a mellow loure, skipping gavotte, engaging minuet, fast-moving boure and harmonic gigue. The notes are pure Bach, buoyant, intricate and emphatic. They danced off the keyboard bars in kaleidoscopic patterns.
Nakura next played another of his own transcriptions for the second and fourth "Five Preludes for Guitar" by Hector Villa-Lobos. Recalling street songs and folk dances, the rhythms shift and leap across the scales in dramatic trills of high-pitched and low, throaty chords. In contrast, Toshiya Sukegawa's "Five Pieces After Paul Klee" combines Asian cadences and painterly designs based on the childlike, semi-abstract work of the Swiss artist.
"One Who Runs Swiftly" raced along with two mallets echoing the flight of a bumblebee, while "Cloud & Light" with four mallets created a shimmering tremolo impression. "Winter Birds" hopped with disjointed phrases until the notes took off and combined in flight. "In the Dim Light" produced shades of filtered octaves, and "Hot Point and Lines" concluded the piece with bouncy timbre and lively colors.
Surprises continued after intermission with "Twelve Variations on the Folia of Spain" by C.P.E. Bach, transcribed by Nakura. The central theme evolved from the middle bars and spread in a full range of high-low tones with four mallets reduced to two for a sure-fire close.
Next, the soloist offered his versions of three songs, honoring the Irish tradition with "Danny Boy," memorializing his own suffering nation of Japan with "Moon Over an Abandoned Castle" and concluding with a religious hymn, Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus." Each was rich with fresh resonance and beauty.
Composer Kenji Bunch wrote "Triple Jump" for his friend Nakura, and Nakura closed the concert with a polyrhythmic rendition of "Hop," with off-balance back and forth flourishes; "Skip," with tripping notes coming to a slow stop; and "Jump," with athletic, jazzy gyrations from one end of the keyboard to the other. The capacity audience saluted the performance with a standing ovation.
Review: Marimbist Makoto Nakura in Montgomery
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