If anyone out there is contemplating the purchase of the Goro
Yamaguchi Honkyoku CD set and the notation, let me set your
mind at rest. This stuff is every bit as good as you might imagine.
The CDs (12 CDs, 38 pieces) are marvelous quality and, unlike the
Jin Nyodo CDs (this is not a complaint) which are more for serious
study, the Yamaguchi CDs are good for both serious study of a master
*and* for just listening. The pieces are presented without (any?
very much?) echo or reverb and sound like Yamaguchi is sitting,
un-amplified, in the room with you.
The best part is that the notation (purchased separately) so closely
follows Yamaguchi-sensei's playing that the serious student could
use it to play duets with the CDs - in effect, taking a "lesson"
with (perhaps "from) Goro Yamaguchi. The notation itself, is clean
and clear and complete enough that there is little to guess at.
While I don't mean to suggest that one could learn how to play the
shakuhachi from these tapes and notation, those of us who can read
notation and who are more than passingly familiar with the instrument
can benefit greatly from this combination.
He who hesitates is lost, as the book of notation is a limited press
run.
Back to work on Hi-Fu-Mi...
bj
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