#4 Sonata, for violin and piano

I.Allegro     II.Cantilena Andante     III.Allegro vivace 

AKIRA IFUKUBE

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Akira Ifukube is one of the most respected composers in Japan, creating more than 300 pieces of music including Symphonies, Concertos, Vocal music, Chamber music and film scores in his career lasting 50 years. Highlights include the Ballata Sinfonica, Sinfonia Tapkaara, Japanese Rhapsody and the film score for the original Godzilla. He known as the master of japanese film music. Being born in the society of the aboriginal Ainu, he listened to their traditional music as a child - greatly influencing his later musical career as a composer.

He was a professor of composition at the Tokyo University of Arts and at the time he started writing film scores, principally for Toho film studios. His film scores quickly gained attention for their inventiveness and richness, incorporating Traditional Ainu and Western music elements. In 1954, Ifukube was assigned to compose music for the science fiction Toho film Godzilla (Gojira), directed by Ishiro Honda - also known world wide as Godzilla, King of the Monsters. He retired in the 1990s, after composing for his last Gojira film, Godzilla vs. Destroyer. Ifukube to this day remains among Japan most respected and widely performed and recorded film composers of all time. Despite his financial success as a film composer, Ifukube's first love had always been his general classical work as a composer and his sonata for violin and piano proves to be a beautiful piece of work. At the time of composition the work was unfortunately lost under the shadow the popularity of his Godzilla works however is recently being re-discovered as a 'hidden gem' of his compositions.

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