“Joe Hisaishi in Vienna. Symphony No. 2. Viola Saga”, Antoine Tamestit, Vienna Symphony Orchestra

The commentary on the CD John Williams by James Ehnes, on the eve of the latter’s concerts in Montreal, is too tempting an opportunity to associate it with the second disc (to be released on June 28) of the contract between DG and the famous composer of the Studios Ghibli, Joe Hisaishi. This CD is a combination of circumstances, since in March 2023 Hisaishi replaced Alexandre Desplat in the “Cinema: Sound” series at the Vienna Symphony. As for the Violin Concerto by Williams, very post-Bernstein, there is nothing cinematic about these works. There 2^e Symphony (35 minutes) and the viola concerto, Viola Saga, are immense surprises by the importance of the American minimalist movement (Glass, Reich, Adams) in Hisaishi’s “learned” style. It is a more elliptical minimalism than that of Glass, in often broken, syncopated curves, where some surprising pictorial areas are inserted. It’s very unexpected, very serious in the genre. Not sure that the Vienna Symphony is the dream partner in this style of music. Tamestit is great.

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