#1395『ヒグチケイコ＋神田晋一郎／passing and longing and there is only a trace left 過ぎしも愛しもただ跡だけが残り』(2017:Ftarri)

2017年3月31日2017年6月22日伏谷佳代

Text by:Kayo Fushiya 伏谷佳代

Ftarri uta 222

ヒグチケイコ(voice)
神田晋一郎(piano)

1.passing (Keiko Higuchi / Shin-Ichiro Kanda)
2.Sabia (Chico Buarque / Antonio Carlos Jobim)
3.d
4. Love Song / Liebeslied (Bertolt Brecht / Kurt Julian Weil)
5.三月のうた/ sangatsu no uta (Shuntaro Tanikawa / Toru Takemitsu)
6.Lover Man (Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez and Jimmy Sherman)
7.a
8.黒髪/ Kurokami (Anonymous / Ichijuro Koide)
9.Rock Me More and More (Colette Magny)
10.f
11.Estate (Bruno Brighetti / Bruno Martino)
12.longing (Keiko Higuchi / Shin-Ichiro Kanda)
13.h

Recorded by Shin-ichiro Kanda
Mixed and mastered by Taleshi Yoshida
Cover art by Keizo Miyanishi
Design by Yoko Mitsuji (gram)

ヒグチケイコと神田晋一郎による7年ぶりのデュオアルバム。ヴォイスは一段とマットな伸縮性を増し、硬質なピアノの音色はストレートに皮膚につき刺さる。オリジナルからボッサノヴァ、スタンダード、三文オペラ、シャンソン、現代音楽、18世紀の長唄までが網羅され、合間に即興が挟み込まれる。時空を超越した要素がパッチワークされることは昨今珍しくないが、文脈が曖昧になるにつれ、越境したことへの表現者の自己満足に終止するケースが殆ど。そのようななか、このふたりはまさに進化形。表現者の背後に広大な文化圏の連なりがみえるのではなく、それらが本人の生身の筋力と化して未踏の境地に到達している。独自のドラマとして聴き手の五感を揺さぶる。「デュオ」という編成に始まり、言語間の深淵、音程間の拮抗、言葉と音塊、ノイズと沈黙、作曲と即興、過ぎ去った時と過ぎゆく今、など—ふたつの事象の接点に横たわる、かくも深い闇。それらを痛いまでに炙り出す、エモーショナルかつ知的なアプローチ。一瞬にして酷薄に反転しかねないこそ際立つ甘美。既存の楽曲から究極のエッセンスのみが抽出され、天賦の個性に濾過された世界は、安易な類型化を退ける本質的な強さを備える。成熟が内包するスリルと、決して飼い慣らされぬ気高さ。移ろう一瞬が遺す残像の数々に絡めとられつつ、「うた」が志向する極北のエレガンスが味わえる。(＊文中敬称略。伏谷佳代)

This duo album by Keiko Higuchi and Shin-ichiro Kanda appears some seven years after their previous CD. Higuchi’s voice has a remarkably increased matt elasticity, and Kanda’s hard piano timbre directly pierces the listener’s skin. The album is a comprehensive mix of their originals, bossa nova, jazz standard, Three-penny Opera, French chanson, contemporary music, and even 18th century’s nagauta with improvisations inserted for good measure. Nowadays it is not rare for musicians to assemble elements transcending time and space like a patchwork, but sadly, many such offerings end as a pastiche of self-contentment and ambiguity; in contrast, these two musicians present a well-structured evolution. It is not just a taster of a vast range of cultural motifs lurking behind the players; rather, each motif transmutes into the living body of the musicians, and reaches new heights. Their own unique sense of drama and interpretation stirs the listener’s five senses. Starting from a “duo” format, at every contact point between two phenomena, a profound darkness lingers: in the depths between languages, in the tense contention between musical intervals, and between the lyrics and tone clusters, noise and stillness, musical composition and improvisation, and time passed and time passing, and so on. Their emotional and intelligent approach reveals these elements to a delightfully painful degree, teetering on the brink of cruelty, and is exactly why this bitter sweet is so satisfying. From the familiar works, only the quintessence is extracted, and filtered through their innate individuality; such a world is endowed with an intrinsic strength that defeats easy systematic classification. It is purely the thrill contained in maturity and an untamed noble dignity. Captured by the numerous residual images left by each fleeting moment, the listener can only enjoy the ultimate elegance that the “songs” and performers aspire to achieve. (Kayo Fushiya)