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Reviews
- Chamber Orchestra Discovers
Marimba and Bach Combo Can't Be Beat
...could marimba soloist
Naoko Takada pull off Johann Sebastian Bach's Violin Concerto in A
minor on this instrument [marimba]? It's not exactly a combination
that leaps to mind. Nevertheless, Bach and marimba turned out to be
a dazzling pair, even if the marimba gave the concerto a completely
different sound.
...Takada handled the
large five-octave instrument with flair, running back and forth on
high-heeled golden sandals and looking stunning in a shiny gold and
rust dress, her face framed by long flowing black hair. Takada's second
solo piece represented more traditional marimba fare: Concertino for
marimba and Orchestra, composed in 1940 by American composer Paul
Creston, who wrote works for neglected instruments such as the marimba.
Rhythmic, spontaneous, and free in form, this piece also turned out
to be a delight, with Takada using both two and four mallets that
flew up and down the octaves to produce wonderful harmonies and liquid
tones. In addition to being a skilled marimbist, Takada also is a
real entertainer, and it took three curtain calls before the audience
would let her go.
Daily Breeze, Wednesday
March 10, 2004, South Bay Chamber Orchestra, CA, by Kari Sayers
- Japanese Radio Station
-- Naoko Takada Special Guest hosted by Koji Ishikawa (Japanese only)
Christmas Special 12/24/03 -- 12:00 Midnight
http://www.studiokarma.net/radio/index.html
- Ms. Takada has been playing
marimba for about 20 years. She currently lives in California, but she
also performs outside of the USA, such as Mexico, Hong Kong, China,
Taiwan and Japan; so she is out of her house 2/3 of the year because
of her busy schedule. She had no idea where the marimba could lead her
when she first saw one at the age of 8. "I wanted to be a counselor
to help people." So she majored in Psychology at Waseda University
in Japan.
She went to California
State University, Northridge as an exchange student from Waseda University
for one year. "I could not understand English very well and I
felt so lonely and sad." However, that helped her to practice
marimba as if it were her only friend. This one year helped to make
up her mind to stay in the USA and change her major to Music performance.
She decided to give it a try to be a professional musician.
When she started her career
as a professional, she said, "I never knew this was such a challenge
for me physically to do this job." She is always traveling, and
the weather changes and time differences are hard to adjust to. "Now
I know how hard it is, so now I take care of my health more."
Rafu Shimpo -- 11/1/2003
-- PEOPLE, Katumata
- Bridge USA -- 11/1/2003
-- Naoko Takada Special Interview by Masako Kagasaki (Japanese only)
www.bridgeusa.orgBack number vol.11
- Marimba Follows Passion,
Defies Doubters
Many people struggle to
find their calling in life. But for Naoko Takada, a world-renowned
marimbist .....that calling came at the age of 8. "(The first
concert she attended) happened to be a marimba concert where my future
marimba teacher, Akiko Suzuki, was performing. I had no interest in
music until that day. But after hearing the sound of the marimba,
I wanted to be like Akiko. She was beautiful and the sounds of the
marimba was the most fascinating sound in the world."... "I
travel so many miles. I am back and forth between Japan and the United
States, and also around places within the United States. I think I
am only home a third of the year." She also has plans to expand
her performance area to Europe and Asia as well. But she's not complain
one bit. She loves her profession and is grateful for the opportunity
to make a living doing what she loves.
The Exponent newspaper,
October 8th 2003, Indiana, USA by Tim Shier
- Naoko Takada, marimbist,
who currently lives in Los Angeles, had great success in her solo concert
at Suntory Hall in Japan. She knew how important it is to keep performing
in Japan. She had some guests perform with her, including a Latin percussionist
and a Japanese Taiko player. She is an active concert soloist who performs
throughout the USA, playing with orchestras and appearing on radios.
Music Modern vol. 10,
2003 Yukiko Hagiya
Japanese Translation
- Paul Fowler's "Michiyuki"
(road to death) from Love Suicide at Sonezaki.... When I saw the program,
I was so thrilled to imagine how popular Japanese puppet theater classic
might become through a marimba solo piece. It was so dramatic that the
audience really felt the story. The sound was contemporary, which gave
the audience some tenseness to portray how two lovers kept walking on
the road to death. In addition, the acting part was extremely effective;
the mallets (sticks) represented the two lovers. Fowler is a composer
and also a dancer. Only Takada and Fowler together could have made this
music so fascinating to everyone.
Yasutaki Inamori's "Buried
Fire" for Marimba and Japanese Taiko had 3 parts: they are written
in Jo, Ha, and Kyu (traditional Japanese music form). This music was
enhanced by this Japanese form along with Western music influence.
Inamori has done wonderfully to make both soloists seem as if they
are on fire. (8/24/2003 Suntory Hall)
Music Modern vol.10,
2003 by Yukiko Hagiya
Japanese Translation
- On April 17, Naoko Takada
was our guest and gave us the most extraordinary demonstration of the
musical potential of the marimba. In her hands, this large instrument,
with which most of the assembled multitude of Taverners and their guests
were not acquainted, can serve to express the widest variety of musical
thought and emotion. From Bach to the Flight of the Bumblebee, with
unswerving accuracy and the highest degree of musicianship, Naoko delighted
us all. Of particular note were an African piece by Mathias Schmitt,
which conveyed an elegant, intricate and moving dialogue between two
yearning souls, and a Japanese piece by Yasutaki Inamori, which portrayed
the falling of cherry blossoms with such delicate grace the one could
see the petals descending and being blown about by the wind. Naoko's
exuberant and charming personality entertained us after dinner with
discussion of her life as a young artist, her chosen instrument and
her art. That was an evening that will not soon be forgotten by those
who were present.
The Tavern Club, April
2003, Boston
- Alegria Musical en Magistral
Concierto; Naoko Takada...Marimbista Invitada
Antes, en la primera parte,
la solista japonesa Naoko Takada logro una plena comunion con el auitorio,
pues con su magistral manejo de la marimba puso de manifiesto que
este instrumento musical tiene un ritno muy latino, acorde con sus
origenes en Mexico y Guatemala...Y no solo fue Carlos Miguel Prieto
y Naoko Takada, sino tambien los 96 musicos que conforman la Orquesta
Sinfonica de Xalapa, quienes, asi como manejaron sus instrumentos
con excepcional armonia, tambien se pusieron de pie al mismo tiempo
para agradecer los aplausos del respetable, que llego procedente de
diversos municipios de la region para disfrutar del concierto, que
sello con broche de oro los festejos organizados por Editorial Gibb
para conmemorar el 50 aniversario del periodico La Opinion. Enhorabuena!
La Opinion(Mexico),
March 16, 2003 by Armando Arrieta Granados
- Marimbist Takada to Play
at San Angelo Symphony; Goal Unique
One minute of Naoko Takada's
rhythmic music isn't enough. The soothing tones emanate from her marimba
and listeners begin to feel as if they are being led to a comfortable
place. The sounds rise and fall, melding together-then they stop,
the internet clip ends, and listeners are dropped abruptly back into
cool reality. A handful of one-minute clips of Takada's music are
available on Internet, but those who would like to hear a full performance
of the artist's award-winning music will have a chance Saturday...
The San Angelo Standard-Times,
Friday, January 31, 2003 by Jared Schroeder
- New York Debut Recital,
The 92nd Street Y, December 10, 2002
Velocities (Moto Perpetuo)
by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Joseph Schwantner opened the evening.
Takada brought optimal flex and a wide range of dynamic levels to
this muscular, tensile sprint...Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum from Debussy's
Children's Corner Suite for piano was delightful. It lends itself
to the voice and capacity of the marimba, and Takada's performance
was a beautifully spirited and colored rendition that encouraged one
to reconsider this beloved, old gem anew...Takada nimbly executed
her way through all the sand traps and gave a winning performance...Two
encores brought the concert to a close: a French jazz number and the
wonderfully inevitable Flight of the Bumblebee of Rimsky-Korsakov.
Played with delightful zip and bumble, it summed up two attractive
qualities of Takada in performance: a becoming naiveté allied
with secure technical mastery of the instrument.
New York Concert Review
Inc., Spring 2003 by Darrell Rosenbluth
- ...Naoko Takada transfixed
Terrace Theater listeners with a program of exuberant new compositions
for marimba.
Washington Post, Thursday,
November 21, 2002 by Tim Page
- With Mallets Aforethought:
Takada's Lively Marimba
Kennedy Center, Washington DC Debut Recital, November 17th
Naoko Takada's Sunday
afternoon marimba recital at the Terrace Theater offered many pleasures....
between Takada's own arrangements of music by Bach and Debussy and
contemporary works by a number of American and Japanese composers,
a lively and effective program was assembled.
Watching Takada play was
part of the fun. At times she looked like a practitioner of some as-yet-undefined
martial art, wielding two mallets in each hand and then plunging them
down, with fierce exactitude, into the instrument's solar plexus.
At other times she took on the air of an actress, calibrating her
hesitations and wearing the mood of the music on her expressive face.
Washington Post, Tuesday,
November 19, 2002 by Tim Page
- Naoko Takada plays a thrilling
marimba, moving with speed, grace and extraordinary accuracy. This afternoon
she will play a program of her own arrangements of Bach and Debussy,
as well as new music by composers Joseph Schwantner, Leigh Howard Stevens,
Daniel Berg, and Eric Ewazen, and a world premiere by Paul Fowler. If
you have any doubts that a solo mallet instrument can sustain your attention
throughout an entire concert, Takada just might make you change your
mind. The program is presented by Young Concert Artist, which makes
very few mistakes in its choices of musicians to champion.
Washington Post, Sunday,
November 17, 2002 by Tim Page
- Alumna Raises the Musical
Bar
Naoko Takada, a nationally
recognized marimbist, received her master's degree in music from Ithaca
College in 2001
Ithaca College alumna
and accomplished marimbist Naoko Takada loves her music. You can hear
it in her playing, which is delicate and flowing, each tone ringing
from the marimba with passion and affection.
...Takada said this sound
was what got her interested in playing such a difficult instrument
while she was still very young.
"When I was 8, I
heard the most beautiful sound I have ever heard... the playing of
the marimba," Takada said.
Her father had received
tickets for a festival concert and that was where Takada, who was
born and raised in Japan, first fell in love with the instrument.
The woman performing on stage, who Takada described as "a beautiful
lady playing a beautiful instrument," was Akiko Suzuki. Takada
said that if she had not seen Suzuki perform that day, she never would
have had the desire to be a marimba player.
..."Finally when
I began to take lessons with Gordon [Stout, a professor of music at
Ithaca College and a premier marimbist in his own right], it was like
magic," Takada said. "He had a broad view of the music world,
so he helped me to establish my own style to fit into the world."
Despite all of her accomplishments,
Takada is most proud of the friends that her music has brought. "I
have created tight relationships," says Takada. "It is the
treasure of my life to have created these wonderful relationships,
and it is my greatest accomplishment."
The Ithacan, Thursday,
November 14, 2002 by Mike Nagel
- "Newly named music
director of Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, the oldest in Mexico, Prieto
had the pleasure of hosting marimbist Naoko Takada, the first-place
winner in this year's Houston Symphony Ima Hogg National Young Artist
Competition...
In her feisty performance,
Takada gave bite to the chomping virtuosic dashes up and down the
keyboard and a golden glow to hushed, rolled chords. The overall impression
she and the orchestra left was a work of optimistic spirit expressed
simply and directly by composer and performers...
Creston didn't use the
distinctive, slow-speaking low register of the marimba much. Takada
showed off those seductive, plunklike sounds in her sveltely played
encore, the movement Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum from Claude Debussy's
Children's Corner Suite."
Houston Chronicle, Friday,
Sept 6, 2002 by Charles Ward
- Spirited marimba virtuoso
Naoko Takada's rendition of Stevens' Rhythmic Caprice was surely a delight
for all. She was exuberant, intensely focused and gave an extraordinary
performance, from memory, drawing a vast array of colors from her instrument
with humor and verve.
IBLA Times Magazine,
2002 by J.D. Hixon
- When Naoko has mallets
in her hand, she seems to be full of bliss...She rises like a shooting
star with her powerful, breathtaking performance. The theme of Bach
Chaconne starts rather simple then each variation grew more and more
intense. When the major key section appeared, it was played delicately,
and the fog vanishes with the coming of the daylight...Her explanation
of the unfamiliar pieces came from the heart and made them more meaningful.
"Petals in the Wind", the commissioned work by Yasutaki Inamori,
was performed with a different palette of colors. With Stevens' extremely
challenging piece, "Rhythmic Caprice", she displayed her extraordinary
technical ability. In the concerto by Ney Rosauro, accompanied by Kyoko
Aoki, she played an outstanding cadenza. The whole concert was like
one connected drama.
Ongaku Gendai (Modern
Music) Vol. 6, 2002 by Yukiko Hagiya
Japanese Translation
- A young, talented artist
who gorgeously decorated the night of Hatsudai...Marimbist Naoko Takada
is a new, uprising star who studied in the USA. She held her own concert
right after this concert...Takada created a breathtaking world of rhythms
and melodies in Leigh Howard Stevens' "Rhythmic Caprice".
She definitely displayed her promising future.
Ongaku no Tomo (Music
Friends) Vol. 5, 2002 by Yukiko Hagiya
Japanese Translation
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