Credits:

Masayuki Takayanagi

Description:

This is the culmination and completion of his lifelong theme of "mass hysterism," which was inspired by a sense of crisis and warning about the future. Takayanagi began to feel ill in early April, the month after this performance, but his health did not improve, and after the concert in Nagoya, he canceled all of his plans. After the Nagoya concert, he cancelled all his plans. On June 23, he passed away. However, at the time this piece was performed, Takayanagi was still in good health. On the day of this performance, he was in particularly good physical condition, and he was well prepared for the performance. According to the testimony of those who were present at the performance on the day of the performance, he was more relaxed than usual because the performance was held in a small hall, or he did not seem lost in the operation of his instrument (the Action Direct performance system).In fact, in this work, for example, in the first "Variation I", a roaring sound like action direct is played from the beginning, but after the climax of the performance, a sudden silence is generated, and in the following "Variation II", a gradual projection technique is used as if he had in mind the development of the next "Variation III". In the abstract, completely improvised performance, Takayanagi seems to be vividly and freely expressing the message he wants to convey to the audience. In this sense, it can be said that this is not only a performance given three months before his death, but also the last and final blow for Action Direct, which began its performance activities in 1985, and for Takayanagi's own musical activities, which had reached (or were reaching) completion. In terms of such a high degree of perfection, the performances in this album may be said to be the culmination of Takayanagi's "consideration and sense of crisis about mass hysterism," which became a major theme as his performance activities evolved from New Direction to Action Direct. The booklet that comes with the book also includes a recording of a "speech" Takayanagi gave at a concert, in which he spoke of his "sense of crisis and warning" between performances, so that the audience can also experience the atmosphere of a concert from the past.Furthermore, since the performance as Action Direct was almost completed, the final configuration of Action Direct's performance system was also introduced, along with a system configuration diagram, based on the testimonies of the people involved at the time. We hope you will enjoy this as a valuable reference material on Action Direct. (2021/7 Osamu Aoki)"

Tracklisting:

1.VARIATION I 19:16
2.VARIATION II 6:42
3.VARIATION III 14:48
4.VARIATION IV 11:06