In his introduction Takashi Ogawa describes these pieces as having 'a mood of nostalgia and tender melancholy that steals away to silence'. Such feelings. he claims, we all experience when we remember our childhood. He has composed this set of pieces with these thoughts in mind and written them without any complicated harmonies or sophisticated modulations.
He instructs the player to 'take your guitar and let your soul roam the pure and innocent universe of vour childhood - that world to which we can never return'. So I approached these pieces as instructed. At first I found it a little hard to relate the simple repetitive and not particularly inspired pieces to anything at all... but gradually, as the difficulty increased, the keys became more varied and the melodies more expansive I gave in. There is a certain nostalgia to be found in these passages. The musical language is traditional - Nuit Etoile hints of a certain Brahms Lullaby, Vent d'Orient is exactly as one might expect... full of chromaticism. There is a definite feel of familiarity and pastiche.
A simple set of miniatures. beautifully presented and ideal for adults with a basic facility and an inherent sense of style acquired with age!
(Jane Bentley, Classical Guitar)
