Joe Hisaishi’s Second Symphony arrives during a triumphal period of his five-decade career. Included on the new album Joe Hisaishi in Vienna, recorded with the Wiener Symphoniker and violist Antoine Tamestit, the new symphony is paired with Viola Saga, a richly emotional viola concerto. It is Hisaishi’s second release on Deutsche Grammophon, coming hot on the heels of 2023’s A Symphonic Celebration: Music from the Studio Ghibli films of Hayao Miyazaki.
Born in 1950 in Nakano, Japan, Hisaishi’s musical education began with the violin at age 4. As a young adult he studied music at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo, embarking on a prolific and varied career as a pianist, conductor and composer, spanning numerous genres from jazz to electronic music and orchestral works. In addition to his extensive catalogue of film scores – particularly his acclaimed collaborations with Hayao Miyazaki, director of Studio Ghibli movies like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away – Hisaishi is also a frequent composer of concert works. “Basically I am a minimalist, and this is where I start from when I compose,” he tells me.
The genesis for Hisaishi’s Second Symphony arrived in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, during an unavoidable interruption in his usually busy schedule. “All my concerts abroad were postponed, so I had some time,” he explains. “Everybody was down in Japan, everybody was sad. And I thought, well, now is the time I can create something great.”
In three movements, Symphony no. 2 is an expansive, sweeping work, drawing both from Hisaishi’s minimalist style and from other influences like Gustav Mahler, one of his favourite composers. Hisaishi’s love for Mahler even extends to a charmingly unusual tribute: a replica of Mahler’s composition hut. The original building is a modest little chalet in the Austrian alps, while Hisaishi’s copy is located near his own summer house in Japan. Prior to the pandemic, Hisaishi had been working with help from an assistant, but the isolation of 2020 led to a different approach. Alone in his Mahler hut, he embarked on the industrious process of writing two symphonies in two years. His previous symphony, the epic and percussive East Land Symphony (2018), had taken eight years to complete.
Like many of Hisaishi’s compositions, Symphony no. 2 blends Japanese and Western classical traditions – most obviously in its third movement, titled Nursery Rhyme. “This is from Japan,” says Hisaishi, of the recurring motif in this movement, sourced from a Japanese children’s song. “The phrase itself is rather short, but I thought if I repeat it, I can make a minimal piece out of that.” There’s a potential through-line here to one of Hisaishi’s more recent film scores, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, directed by Isao Takahata. This heart-rending animated folk story features a Japanese nursery rhyme sung by both adults and children, coupled with instrumental koto music played by the title character.
Symphony no. 2 premiered in March 2023, in Vienna’s historic Musikverein. Now available to stream on STAGE+, this concert featured Hisaishi conducting the Wiener Symphoniker in a programme showcasing his new symphony, his Mládí for Piano and Strings, and selected works from Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro and Princess Mononoke.
“The orchestra said that they actually had very little experience with minimal music,” says Hisaishi. “But they tried very hard to do everything as I wanted it, and they made my music sing.” For the live concert recording we hear on this album, he looked to his experiences of conducting Mahler’s first symphony. “I saw how the Europeans approached this, and I tried to incorporate this style into my work.”
Later that year he returned to Vienna to record the Viola Saga, joining forces with French violist Antoine Tamestit. “I think that he’s a splendid artist,” says Hisaishi, adding that he felt “very happy in my heart” about the resulting recording. “He can bring out the happiness that I want to bring out in this piece. There are cool parts and more emotional parts, and he can do both very well.”
Viola Saga takes the listener on a journey from delicate, methodical beginnings to a powerful burst of urgency, making full use of the viola’s sensitivity and range. Deutsche Grammophon’s album notes draw comparison with the composer and pianist Michael Nyman, but Hisaishi namechecks a more fundamental influence: Bach’s arpeggio-heavy works for solo cello.
This isn’t the first time Hisaishi has composed for the viola, an instrument he praises for its similarity with the human voice. However the viola’s alto pitch – “not too high and not too low” – also presents a challenge for the composer, making it “very difficult to integrate as a solo instrument into the orchestra.” Hisaishi’s goal was to create something truly “new and unique.”
Hisaishi’s two albums with Deutsche Grammophon shine a spotlight on the two halves of his career. 2023’s Symphonic Celebration functions as a greatest hits collection of his work with Studio Ghibli, a collaboration that began with Miyazaki's post-apocalyptic fantasy film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind in 1984. It represents a professional partnership comparable to that of Steven Spielberg and John Williams, earning Hisaishi seven Japanese Academy Awards over the past three decades. At the same time, Joe Hisaishi in Vienna emphasizes that his original works deserve just as much recognition. Vivid, evocative and commanding, the duo of Symphony no. 2 and Viola Saga build upon decades of expertise, demonstrating a furious sense of vigour.
I ask how he maintains his creative energy in the midst of his hectic schedule: “This is my biggest problem actually!” Hisaishi laughs. This month he had concerts in Toronto and Chicago (“Hisaishi Conducts Hisaishi”), and in July he’ll conduct a three-night stint at Madison Square Garden, performing symphonic arrangements of his Studio Ghibli music. Meanwhile he’s also promoting this new album and working on two new projects: an upcoming film score and a new orchestral work. “So I’m very very busy, and I would really like to get rid of all of these things quickly.” You can understand why he was so attracted to the quiet solitude of Mahler’s cabin.
Now available on STAGE+
Watch Joe Hisaishi conduct his new concerto Viola Saga, played by Antoine Tamestit and the Wiener Symphoniker on STAGE+, the streaming service for classical music by Deutsche Grammophon.
This article was sponsored by Deutsche Grammophon.
