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Our latest publications include 3 works by Kishio Hirao(1907-1953), a Japanese composer of the pre-WW2 era. He is also known as a translator of Messiaen’s “Technique de mon language musical”. He studied at Scola Cantorum in France under Vincent D’Indy before WW2. Some works are published by Alphonse Leduc in France, but he couldn’t see them; he died at the age of 46. Very eminent talent in his generation.
-Sonate pour piano (revised version in 1951)
His sonate, one of the masterpieces of Japanese composer, illustrates a fusion of both European and Japanese sonority. 2 years before his premature death, he revised it and it has been unpublished.
https://muse-press.com/en/item/mp02302/
-Sonatine for piano (1951)
Rarely found item. It is appeared in his writings “Let’s compose together – our own music”, but totally forgotten. The manuscript is rescued from a trash can by the composer’s daughter, Haruna Hirao, pianist.
https://muse-press.com/en/item/mp02301/
-Variations on the theme of “Kōjō no Tsuki” for flute(or Okuralo), voice and piano
Short variations based on a very famous Japanese song melody. Okuralo is a flute-like instrument with a hint of the timbre of Shakuhachi, Japanese woodwind made of bamboo, and is innovated by a Japanese entrepreneur, Jirokichi Okura. Unpublished.
https://muse-press.com/en/item/mp02303/