tomoko mukaiyama
random notes

     From Black Page magazine:
Having won the first prize at the International Gaudeamus Concours in Rotterdam in 1991 and the Japanese Muramatsu prize in 1993, Tomoko Mykaiyama made herself quite a name as a concert piano player.  On "Hello Pop Tart", Tomoko Mukaiyama plays the music of various contemporary composers.  Besides pieces by Henry Cowell, Charles Ives, John Zorn (and others) she also performs 'Introduction to Little House (I Used to Live in)' by Frank Zappa.  A very impressive album, and a must-have for everyone who's into New Music.
-- peter van laarhoven

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     From: Charles Pater (charpa@flevonet.nl)
A nice 3-fold hard plastic package!
(How to get the CD out and where to put the booklet when I want to play this disc is an everlasting tantalizing experience)

this is not THE Little House rendition to put it mildly. but she's a very famous pianist in the modern music fields. she doesn't have the right feeling for this American tune.

BV Haast is the label of Willem Breuker. He is a friend of my youth. Went to primary school with him. 40 years later we a did radio show about collecting records; 'melo-manic omnivorous' as we were/are. Didn't speak him for about 30 years then. His name was 'thankyou-ed' on the first Rudy Schwartz Album. What happened to him? He stopped making music?

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     Unknown source, via Marc De Bruyn (emdebe@village.uunet.be):
A delightful set of virtuoso (mostly solo) and spirited piano performances by Tomoko Mukaiyama, who seems to have a particular affinity for the styles she chooses, from Henry Cowell's famous strummed piano strings 'Aeolian Harp' to the dissonance of John Zorn's dramatic 'XIV' to the lyricism of William Bolcom's 'Graceful Ghost Rag' to the playfulness of David Dramm's light electric pop song, a la NY downtown scene, celebrating post-Modern cultural angst.

Compositions include Henry Cowell's 'Aeolian Harp', Charles Ives' 'Celestial Railroad', William Bolcom's 'Graceful Ghost Rag', John Zorn's 'XIV', William Balcom's 'Hymne a l'amour', Frank Zappa's 'Piano introduction to The Little House I Used to Live In', Frederic Rzewski's 'Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues', and David Dramm's 'Hello Pop Tart'.

Guest performers of 'Hello Pop Tart' are Anne La Berge (flute), Carl G. Beukman (double bass), Cor Fuhler (electronic organ), Walter Wierbos (trombone), Hans van der Meer (percussion), and David Dramm (vocals), with Tomoko Mukayuama playing synthesizer and singing.

Recorded at Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, Utrecht, December 19 and 20, 1998