Toru Takemitsu: Ran (Original Soundtrack) – VINYL LP

Title: Ran (Original Soundtrack)
Artist: Toru Takemitsu
Label: Silva Screen
Product Type: VINYL LP
UPC: 738572151874
Genre: Soundtrack
Release Date: 2016-11-25
Number of Discs: 2

Over a 60 year career director Akira Kurosawa’s films have passed into cinematic legend and he retains his status as one of the most influential and preeminent film-makers of the 20th Century. Films such as Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Kagemusha and his last great epic, Ran are all regarded as milestones in the history of celluloid. The latter, the most expensive film made in Japan up to it’s release in 1985 is loosely based on Japanese legend and Shakespeare’s King Lear. Composer Toru Takemitsu ranks as highly in the echelons of Japanese music as Kurosawa in film with a prolific output of soundtracks alongside major music works and books. Commissioned on Kurosawa’s instructions to deliver a score inspired by Mahler with up to 40 disparate takes of music, the spectral and eerie sounds capture perfectly the imagery on screen. Originally released as two separate suites of music this version includes those and adds a further 14 tracks of Takemitsu’s score and appears for the first time on vinyl.

Tracks:
1.1 Ran – Suite Part 1
1.2 Ran – Suite Part 2
1.3 Opening Credits – Main Title
1.4 Kyouami / the First Castle / the Brave General’s Bow
1.5 The Flute Orchestra
1.6 The Buddhist Praying Temple / the Last 110,000 and Hidetora / the Fury of Ootemon / the Second Castle
1.7 Hell’s Picture Scroll
1.8 The Crimson Citadel / Surrendering the Castle – Desert of Madness
1.9 Tsurumaru’s Flute / Azusa Castle in Ruins
1.10 Saburou’s Army Arrives / Departing for the Front
1.11 Endless Hell / Escape
1.12 Tension in Yahatabara / Assault
1.13 The Battle of Yawatano
1.14 Amentation / Chaos in the First Castle – Ujigabana / Illusions in the Sky
1.15 Attendance at the Funeral / Flute of Darkness
1.16 Ending Credits