Shoko Hayashizaki - Beethoven Translated (2021)

For over 36 years the Japanese-German piano duo Hayashizaki - Hagemannn has been one of the most versatile and creative representatives of its genre.
The duo studied in the piano class of Prof. Robert-Alexander Bohnke at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau and gave their first concert in 1984 in Monfalcone / Italy. Since then, the piano duo has designed and presented many innovative program concepts such as “A ray of light streaked me” (Alma Mahler-Werfel and her blind composition teacher Josef Labor), “Eile des Lebens”, “The last harem” or “Reading is dangerous”. These concert readings led to joint appearances with the actresses Alicia Aumüller, Alrun Herbig, Sandra Maria Huimann, Vera Lippisch, the married couple Maria and Peter Warkentin, the authors Elazar Benyoëtz, Karl Corino, Peter Prange and the author Katrin Dorn. Concerts for the 100th birthday of Alexander Scriabin and the interpretations of the stage consecration festival play "Parsifal" by Richard Wagner in four-hand compositions by Engelbert Humperdinck in Reykjavik and Leipzig received special attention. Another focus is the collaboration with numerous choirs. Performances included: Saint Nicolas Cantata by Benjamin Britten, psalm symphony by Igor Stravinsky, Petite Messe Solenelle by Gioachino Rossini, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, Schicksalslied, Ein Deutsches Requiem, Nänie, Gesang der Parzen, Alt-Rhapsody, Liebeslieder and Neue Liebeslieder by Johannes Brahms.
The repertoire recorded on sound carriers ranges from tangos in the refreshingly cheeky instrumentation for piano for four hands and percussion
to the "Hamadryades" by the Belgian composer Jacqueline Fontyn and the traffic light suite "Zebra Crossings Over Cross" by Michael Frank Hagemann. The CD "Alma Mahler-Werfel and Josef Labor" received the 2007 Pasticcio Prize from the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation. Composers wrote works for the duo - currently the British composer John Palmer and the Argentine pianist and composer Horacio Lavandera. The world premiere of a new composition by Volker Ignaz Schmidt is in preparation. The live Shodō performance for clavichord and Japanese calligraphy is a very special experience.