Ongaku

Born in Fukushima and having walked alongside song since childhood, soprano Masako Edanami presents her long-awaited first album as the culmination of many years of activity. It contains 27 tracks, ranging from masterpieces of Japanese art song by Makiko Kinoshita, Saburo Takata, and Yoshinao Nakada, to Richard Strauss's song collection "Maedchenblumen," to a group of works by Yasuhide Ito that convey his feelings toward the Great East Japan Earthquake. It is a rich program in which poetry, voice, and music deeply blend together. On piano, she is joined by Akika Watanabe, who graduated at the top of her class from the Royal Conservatory of Brussels in Belgium and has a brilliant record at competitions in Japan and abroad. "Song cultivates my heart more deeply, and continues to connect me with people and the world" - true to these words, this is an album in which life and prayer dwell in every single note.

福島に生まれ、幼い頃から歌とともに歩んできたソプラノ歌手・枝並雅子が、長年の活動の集大成として放つ待望のファースト・アルバム。木下牧子、高田三郎、中田喜直による日本歌曲の名作から、リヒャルト・シュトラウスの歌曲集「乙女の花」、そして伊藤康英による東日本大震災への思いを込めた作品群まで、27曲を収録。詩と声と音楽が深く溶け合う、豊かなプログラムとなっている。ピアノには、ベルギー王立ブリュッセル音楽院を首席で卒業し、国内外のコンクールで輝かしい実績を持つ渡辺秋香を迎えた。「歌はより深く私の心を耕し、私と人と世界をつなげ続けている」──その言葉通り、一音一音に人生と祈りが宿る一枚。