Good morning.

Today we’re listening to Maki Namekawa, a Japanese classical pianist. We first featured Namekawa almost exactly a year ago. She’s best known for her performances of Philip Glass compositions, having released the only complete recording of his études. In 2019, Glass composed his first piano sonata specifically for Namekawa, who premiered it that summer at the Piano-Festival Ruhr in Germany. This year she put out Philip Glass: Piano Sonata for those of us who missed the festival. We’re also re-upping her 2019 solo piano recording of Glass’s amazing soundtrack to the 1985 Paul Schrader movie, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. Unfortunately the availability is limited.

Philip Glass: Piano Sonata - Maki Namekawa (50m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube (Limited)

Philip Glass: Mishima - Maki Namekawa (40m, no vocals)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube (Limited)

Have a good Thursday.