The State Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Resul Gylyjov gave a concert dedicated to Japanese animation at the Mukam Palace of the State Cultural Center. Soundtracks by Joe Hisaishi, multiple winner of the Japan Academy Film Prize in the Outstanding Achievement in Music category, and other Japanese composers were performed for the first time in our country.
The audience was welcomed by a screen montage featuring animated characters who were to become participants in the concert. The imagery dazzled with color, imagination, and the diversity of animal and plant life.
The concert program opened with excerpts from the film “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea”, accompanied by the sensitive music of Joe Hisaishi. Then characters from the films “Spirited Away”, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “Princess Mononoke”, and others appeared before the audience. Japanese anime cinematography is highly distinctive. The heroes of these animated films hardly ever stay in one place—they soar above city streets, fly through the sky like birds. Their surroundings are very picturesque landscapes. Yet it is difficult to take them in, as they flash by in a whirlwind of rapidly unfolding events.
At the same time, Joe Hisaishi’s music that accompanies these events is majestically calm. It is as if the composer seeks to restrain the gusts of wind in order to keep his characters safe. At the same time, it is filled with inspiration that extends beyond the screen.
A magnificent complement to the music of the Japanese composers were the concert’s soloists: violinist Selbiniyaz Mulkamanova, and vocalists Maysa Niyazova and Dovran Shammyev. In the works “The Forest of Firefly Lights” and “Suzume”, Maysa conveyed the lyrical spirit of Japanese musical culture with great subtlety.
By contrast, Dovran Shammyev, in his performances of music from the films “Your Name” and “Naruto”, appeared in a swift, energetic tempo.
“I am very happy to be participating in this project, thanks to which Japanese songs have been added to my repertoire of foreign works,” Dovran shared backstage.
In an interview for our newspaper’s readers, Resul Gylyjov noted: “While working on this project, all the musicians of the orchestra discovered with great interest the richness of Japanese musical culture. And I am happy to introduce Turkmen music lovers to the work of Japanese composers whose music has captured the hearts of many generations.”
The conductor himself also fell under the spell of Japanese music. In the final piece of the soundtrack concert, Resul Gylyjov left the conductor’s podium and, dancing lightly, continued to lead the orchestra from the stage. It was the anime Naruto by composer Toshiro Masuda.
