Kazuhito Yamashita

Kazuhito Yamashita (born 1961 in Nagasaki) is a Japanese classical guitarist.

Especially during his formative years, Yamashita was well-known for not limiting himself to "existing guitar technique" or "ways of playing".

Yamashita has recorded for BMG (RCA), Crown Classics, Japan Victor, King Records and Alfa Records. Recordings include 16 CDs comprising the complete works of Fernando Sor (on Japan Victor), and a collection of 5 CDs containing J. S. Bach's sonatas and partitas for violin, cello, lute and flute, which Yamashita transcribed for the guitar (on Crown Classics). His recording of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", released in 1981, was awarded the Deutsche Grammophon Award. In 1990, he recorded his own transcription of Bach's six suites for violoncello.

Controversy

Critical responses have been written about Yamashita's playing:
*Yamashita [...] let the difference between playing a guitar and using a typewriter disappear. cite web| url = http://mitglied.lycos.de/orlandosyrg/ng5.html#Guitar84Toronto| title = Guitar 84 -Toronto| publisher = "(originally in German, translated into English above)" Claude Bishop, nova giulianiad, May 1985, from p. 46 ]
*It seemed as though he reshaped the musically demanding works of his program into technique-studies.
*His superficial "bravour" destroyed the coherence of compositions [...]
*That Yamashita nevertheless obtained a great positive response from the almost 900 people in the audience, of which roughly a half were guitarists, can only be explained by the Fetish-character that technique has in our modern times. [...] Not far of me, in the midst of the roaring jubilation, I could see a well known lutenist sitting next to a prominent english composer who were looking at each other in a rather helpless and distressed manner. During a discussion they voiced the opinion that this was not music [...]

Choice of repertoire

Yamashita's choice of repertoire frequently divides guitarists - both professionals and enthusiasts (as detailed in the Ophee chronicles below). His early arrangements of "Pictures at an Exhibition", Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite", Dvorak's "New World Symphony no. 9 in E Minor", and others, caused some controversy. There were those who argued that his performance was truly artistic and broke boundaries in terms of solo guitar expression and virtuosity. Others saw the projects as either mere technical showpieces with little musical value, or failed attempts to communicate works that were perceived as too large-scale in conception to be faithfully conveyed on a solo guitar.

Despite the fact that "Pictures at an Exhibition" was arranged from the solo piano scoreFact|date=February 2007, and solo piano arrangements for guitar are very common (see Granados' Spanish Dances, or Albeniz's Leyenda/Asturias), some see the work as too complex and grand to be conveyed as Mussorgsky would have wished on a solo guitar. Nonetheless, even many detractors of the concept agreed that in performance, Yamashita was more than able to entertain and even stun an audience with his phenomenal and highly idiosyncratic technique.

References

External links

* [http://www.ne.jp/asahi/yamashita/kazuhito/ Kazuhito Yamashita Art Circle (includes biography)]
* [http://www.guitarandluteissues.com/rmcg/yamashta.htm The Yamashita Chronicles (by Matanya Ophee)]
* [http://www.guitarandluteissues.com/rmcg/ophee.html On hearing Yamashita (by Matanya Ophee)]
* [http://www.cnlmusic.com/kor/ck_arti_r.htm?code=artist&no=19&start=0&keyword=&choice=&n=7&ret_url=/kor/ck_arti_c.htm photos]
* [http://www.musikrooms.com/festival2004/imgs/press-kit/kazhuito&koyumi.jpgKazuhito & Koyumi Yamashita]
* [http://www.musikrooms.com/festival2004/imgs/press-kit/kazuhito.tif photo]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FNlwmpU7Rk Video of Kazuhito Yamashita playing Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition]
* [http://mitglied.lycos.de/orlandosyrg/ng7.html#KazYamashInterv Interview mit Kazuhito Yamashita] 1985 - by Tadashi Sasaki (German version by Thomas Müller-Pering) de icon
* [http://digital-library.csun.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=any&CISOBOX1=Yamashita&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOROOT=all Some photos of LP covers] (Oviatt Library Digital Collections)