Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	1	2	3	4	5

Gidon Kremer & Naoko Yoshino - Insomnia (1999)

Posted By: Designol

Date: 29 Mar 2025 14:28:54

Gidon Kremer & Naoko Yoshino - Insomnia (1999)
works by Jean Françaix, John Cage, Arvo Pärt, Richard Strauss, Nino Rota, Alfred Schnittke
Erik Satie, Toru Takemitsu, Michio Miyagi, Yuji Takahashi, Kaija Saariaho
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 317 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 196 Mb | Scans included
Classical, Contemporary | Label: Philips | # 289 456 016-2 | Time: 01:18:10

This is a handsome-looking compact disc release, with strikingly muted graphics in cool purple tones, featuring Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and Japanese harpist Naoko Yoshina. Here the pretty graphics go a little too far: the buyer finds no listing of compositions on the outside of the package and has no way of knowing what is played aside from a bare mention of the names of the 11 composers featured. That's where the All Classical Guide comes in. The works were all written in the twentieth century. They are: Michio Miyagi's Haru no umi (Ocean in Spring, a calming, melodic piece); Kaija Saariaho's Nocturne for violin solo (a somewhat avant-garde coloristic piece); Toru Takemitsu's Stanza II for harp and tape (also pretty far out and very Japanese-sounding); Yuji Takahashi's Insomnia for violin, voices, and kugo (strange, but oddly soothing); a movement from Satie's Le fils des étoiles as arranged by Takahashi (austere); Jean Françaix's Five Little Duets (100 percent charming); the Étude for violin from Richard Strauss's Daphne (also charming); Six Melodies by John Cage (simple and pleasant); Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel (even simpler and not startling); Nino Rota's love theme from The Godfather (you know this one); and the final movement from Schnittke's Suite in the Old Style (gently Classical except for one deliberately horrendous dissonance). So there you have the emotional progression of this carefully planned album. Much of it could cure insomnia; three or four pieces could cause it. The mood is nocturnal throughout. The recording was made in 1996 in Kioi Hall, Tokyo, with Wilhelm Hellweg as producer and engineer. It completely succeeds in what was intended; the microphones are close enough to Kremer that bowing sounds are very evident, but apparently only when the producer wants them to be.

Review by Joseph Stevenson, Allmusic.com

Review by Art Lange, FANFARE

Gidon Kremer apparently loves a challenge: Either familiar material in new guises or new material in familiar guises would seem to qualify. Hence this curiously constructed recital. Ostensibly a duo program with a few solo pieces dropped in for good measure (Kaija Saariaho's Nocturne, which swirls and skitters around selected pitches, couched in a variety of tonal effects, and Richard Strauss's brief, sweet "étude" from the opera Daphne, for Kremer; Toru Takemitsu's Stanza II, adding an echoed and distorted tape component, and Nino Rota's familiar theme from The Godfather, for Yoshino), most of this violin and harp material originated in a different instrumentation (usually transcribing a flute part for violin, or piano for the harp). So things may not quite be as they appear on the surface.

In putting together this program, Kremer was obviously not of a mind to show off his technique, as none of the works are especially virtuosic—in fact, the majority of them are relatively small-scale pieces of modest melodic material and less than flamboyant gesture. Only Yuji Takahashi's Insomnia contains any moments that could be described as aggressive, and that in a unusual sequence of events (the two instruments appear for the most part to be disinterested in what the other is doing; Kremer plays microtonal or altered pitches while wandering around the stage, Yoshino plays an ancient form of Japanese harp called the kugo, and they talk—according to the program notes they are reminiscing about the Russian poet Ossip Mandelstam). Most of the music is low-key; in fact, expressiveness is specifically verboten in Cage's minimal Six Melodies and Part's delicate Spiegel im Spiegel, and elsewhere—Satie's pseudo-Japanese melody and Jean Francaix's scurrying, songlike, easily digestible morsels among them—the attitude definitely appears to be "less is more."

I wish I could say I've deconstructed the connections (musical and/or symbolic) between the pieces, but this appears to be a tough nut to crack. Annotator Paul Griffiths speculates on a few possible interwoven threads, but as I said I think there's more here than meets the ear. This will take time. It goes without saying that the playing is impeccable.

Review by Art Lange, FANFARE

Gidon Kremer at Allmusic
Gidon Kremer at Wiki

Naoko Yoshino at Allmusic

Gidon Kremer, violin
Naoko Yoshino, harp

Tracklist:

Michio Miyagi (1894-1956):
01. Haru no umi (6:04)

Kaija Saariaho (b. 1952):
02. Nocturne (4:31)

Toru Takemitsu (1930-1996):
03. Stanza II (6:24)

Yuji Takahashi (b. 1938):
04. Insomnia (14:57)

Erik Satie (1866-1925) / Toru Takemitsu:
05. Prelude du Premier acte 'La vocation' (5:21)

Jean Françaix (1912-1997):
Cinque piccoli duetti
06. Preludio (1:15)
07. Pastorale (2:02)
08. Canzonetta (1:14)
09. Sogno (3:15)
10. Rondo (1:56)

Richard Strauss (1864-1949):
11. 'Daphne' Etude (1:30)

John Cage (1912-1992):
Six Melodies
12. No. 1 (Rubato) (2:44)
13. No. 2 (Legatissmo) (1:53)
14. No. 3 (2:04)
15. No. 4 (2:33)
16. No. 5 (1:39)
17. No. 6 (2:22)

Arvo Pärt (b. 1935):
18. Spiegel im Spiegel (9:49)

Nino Rota (1911-1979):
19. Il padrino (3:37)

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998):
20. Pantomime (3:00)

EAC log

Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 3 from 29. August 2011

EAC extraction logfile from 30. January 2012, 13:01

Gidon Kremer & Naoko Yoshino / Insomnia

Used drive : MS Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
Sample format : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo

TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.33 | 6:04.00 | 33 | 27332
2 | 6:04.33 | 4:31.00 | 27333 | 47657
3 | 10:35.33 | 6:24.00 | 47658 | 76457
4 | 16:59.33 | 14:57.00 | 76458 | 143732
5 | 31:56.33 | 5:21.00 | 143733 | 167807
6 | 37:17.33 | 1:15.00 | 167808 | 173432
7 | 38:32.33 | 2:02.00 | 173433 | 182582
8 | 40:34.33 | 1:14.00 | 182583 | 188132
9 | 41:48.33 | 3:15.00 | 188133 | 202757
10 | 45:03.33 | 1:56.00 | 202758 | 211457
11 | 46:59.33 | 1:30.00 | 211458 | 218207
12 | 48:29.33 | 2:44.00 | 218208 | 230507
13 | 51:13.33 | 1:53.00 | 230508 | 238982
14 | 53:06.33 | 2:04.00 | 238983 | 248282
15 | 55:10.33 | 2:33.00 | 248283 | 259757
16 | 57:43.33 | 1:39.00 | 259758 | 267182
17 | 59:22.33 | 2:22.00 | 267183 | 277832
18 | 61:44.33 | 9:49.00 | 277833 | 322007
19 | 71:33.33 | 3:37.00 | 322008 | 338282
20 | 75:10.33 | 3:00.00 | 338283 | 351782

Range status and errors

Selected range

Filename \\tsclient\D\Uploads\Insomnia\Gidon Kremer & Naoko Yoshino - Insomnia.wav

Peak level 92.5 %
Extraction speed 4.4 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 222CA8DE
Copy CRC 222CA8DE
Copy OK

No errors occurred

End of status report

==== Log checksum B6BC489CE294385AF79A57417096EB5528A98D03D1E04E4561C523ADC75AA1A4 ====

AR log

[CUETools log; Date: 25.03.2018 17:05:33; Version: 2.1.4]
Pregap length 00:00:33.
[CTDB TOCID: uyGVot3L0vXRYl3zoBc1TyNOKZM-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
1 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
2 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
3 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
4 | (30/31) Accurately ripped
5 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
6 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
7 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
8 | (30/31) Accurately ripped
9 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
10 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
11 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
12 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
13 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
14 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
15 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
16 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
17 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
18 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
19 | (31/31) Accurately ripped
20 | (29/31) Accurately ripped
[AccurateRip ID: 003fb18a-036effeb-12125214] disk not present in database.

Track Peak [ CRC32 ] [W/O NULL] [ LOG ]
– 92,5 [222CA8DE] [20E763DD] CRC32
01 77,3 [A8C04DCE] [D38616FD]
02 45,8 [815348ED] [B3B52768]
03 75,1 [E508C18B] [E7943D7D]
04 81,3 [76B8ED88] [BB04744A]
05 55,5 [2A8FBAEC] [85C0E1CD]
06 88,6 [D3E5891C] [19859FA7]
07 39,2 [FE2E5224] [611F86F7]
08 59,0 [83E38FA1] [853B296C]
09 33,4 [51407B38] [54F90A4E]
10 89,5 [C6782F0E] [AEF38786]
11 38,9 [E22D3456] [3642153F]
12 47,9 [CCAAF9B6] [491576BE]
13 26,5 [3D5E1348] [1D01BAC5]
14 45,3 [62A7127A] [DC4F8C88]
15 46,6 [E5C30AD0] [DD406C25]
16 60,4 [9470F136] [565827E2]
17 21,8 [30948B23] [5100CD7F]
18 26,4 [3D6AD001] [E953B03D]
19 42,5 [1CC4C6D0] [B96C858F]
20 92,5 [61C5A93C] [54BB4E56]

DR log

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2018-03-25 17:06:53

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Gidon Kremer & Naoko Yoshino / Insomnia
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR15 -2.23 dB -23.90 dB 6:04 01-Michio Miyagi: Haru no umi
DR15 -6.78 dB -29.76 dB 4:31 02-Kaija Saariaho: Nocturne
DR18 -2.48 dB -30.04 dB 6:24 03-Toru Takemitsu: Stanza II
DR19 -1.79 dB -29.46 dB 14:57 04-Yuji Takahashi: Insomnia
DR15 -5.10 dB -25.95 dB 5:21 05-Eric Satie / Toru Takemitsu: Prelude du Premier acte 'La vocation'
DR12 -1.05 dB -20.10 dB 1:15 06-Jean Francaix: Cinque piccoli duetti -Preludio
DR12 -8.12 dB -26.75 dB 2:02 07-Jean Francaix: Cinque piccoli duetti -Pastorale
DR14 -4.57 dB -23.53 dB 1:14 08-Jean Francaix: Cinque piccoli duetti -Canzonetta
DR11 -9.51 dB -26.77 dB 3:15 09-Jean Francaix: Cinque piccoli duetti -Sogno
DR14 -0.96 dB -21.35 dB 1:56 10-Jean Francaix: Cinque piccoli duetti -Rondo
DR10 -8.20 dB -28.02 dB 1:30 11-Richard Strauss: 'Daphne' Etude
DR14 -6.39 dB -27.18 dB 2:44 12-John Cage: Six Melodies - No. 1 (Rubato)
DR13 -11.51 dB -31.84 dB 1:53 13-John Cage: Six Melodies - No. 2 (Legatissmo)
DR15 -6.87 dB -26.32 dB 2:04 14-John Cage: Six Melodies - No. 3
DR15 -6.63 dB -27.30 dB 2:33 15-John Cage: Six Melodies - No. 4
DR14 -4.37 dB -25.83 dB 1:39 16-John Cage: Six Melodies - No. 5
DR13 -13.22 dB -31.22 dB 2:22 17-John Cage: Six Melodies - No. 6
DR14 -11.55 dB -34.28 dB 9:49 18-Arvo Part: Spiegel im Spiegel
DR13 -7.43 dB -27.29 dB 3:37 19-Nino Rota: Il padrino
DR15 -0.67 dB -23.02 dB 3:00 20-Alfred Schnittke: Pantomime
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 20
Official DR value: DR14

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 537 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

All thanks to original releaser

More interesting music in My Blog

90s Alfred Schnittke Arvo Pärt CD-Rip + Scans Classical Erik Satie FLAC Gidon Kremer Jean Françaix John Cage Kaija Saariaho Lossless Michio Miyagi MP3 Naoko Yoshino Nino Rota Richard Strauss Romantic Tōru Takemitsu Yuji Takahashi Classical Music