Concerto for Marimba & String Ensemble by Akira Miyoshi, 1969

Akira Miyoshi, composer (1933-2013) Greg Giannascoli, marimba Ron Stabinski, piano This work was part of the very important series of concerts that Keiko Abe was performing in Tokyo during the later 1960's and earlier 1970's. These concerts presented new music for the marimba, including this concerto. This work comes during a transitional period for Miyoshi. It has some sections reminiscent of his previous writing with strictly determined notation regarding rhythm, dynamics and tempi. This is one of his first works where he starts to experiment with interpreting rhythm freely though certain notational devices. The effect is beautiful. His pitch is fully determined in this work. This is one of my all time favorite pieces for the marimba. The freedom in the cadenza sections and the driving rhythm in the ensemble sections come together to create a masterful work with such depth of color and contrast throughout. I love that, even in the softest and most relaxed places, there is an underlying sense of tension; a feeling that some major event could happen at any second. The other aspects that make this piece great are the insistence of the motivic octave pedal tone that appears in the opening, and throughout the piece, in the marimba part. It starts on F# and only goes to other pitches on occasion. Miyoshi's amazing use of portamenti is something that adds to the incredible beauty, intensity and depth of color in this masterpiece. Miyoshi is one of our greatest and most prolific composers for the marimba, writing often for Keiko Abe. His music is one of the cornerstones of a special time in our repertoire. The music that came from Japan during the 1060's and 70's is as important to marimba players as the music of the classical period is to pianists. Just to name a few composers who wrote great works for the marimba: Miyoshi, Tanaka, Miki, Niimi, Noda, Sueyoshi. Teachers and students should never ignore the great works from this time period. I tried many mallets on this piece. When I played it last (over 20 years ago) I used Dave Samuels' mallets, three #18 with a #11 in the bass. I think they are too light now and the sound was thin. I went for a bigger mallet, the Ed Smith # 16, with an old Pro Mark Dick Sisto mallet in the bass. The Smith mallets have a mushroom shaped head, giving a better sense of articulation (than a disc or round shaped head) in all dynamic ranges but they still have an almost soft enough sound for the very quiet spots. The Sisto mallet is disc shaped. These are all vibe mallets so the wrap is tight enough for clarity. I couldn't imagine playing this piece with a standard wrapped marimba mallet. I wouldn't go with a two tone mallet either (with those you either get an ugly xylophone sound or a puffy ppp sound). I tried rubber but the rolls at the bottom of the instrument didn't work with those this time around. I always use rattan handles. If you play this with a group (it's only 13 string players with the marimba) make sure you have a good conductor that actually learns the score. I think the best ensemble performances I had with this were the ones where I conducted from the marimba. If you buy the part from Weiss it doesn't come with the piano reduction. I got a copy from someone who went to Japan in the mid 1990's. If you write the publisher they should accommodate you. If I had to play this piece with orchestra without first doing it with piano I'd be terrified. My other favorite concerto is the Fantasy on Japanese Woodprints by Hovhaness. I have 2 audio recordings of that up on YouTube. The live one is better than the studio version. I think I'll try to do a video of that next year. As far as the classic Japanese marimba concerti go, any serious marimba player should learn at least one, probably two. I think Miyoshi's is the best. I think Miki's is the next best. I have learned, performed and recorded Ichiyanagi's "Paganini Personal" but I think that is from a later time period. Afukube's is good but I just never got to it. If I live long enough I'll record Miyoshi's 3 major solo works over the next three years plus a number of other standard pieces including Tanaka's Two Movement and the first 6 Preludes by Ray Helble. The tonal stuff for platforms I'll still keep doing also. This video was recorded on June 1, 2026.