There seems to be a surfeit of young traditional musicians at the moment in Japan. Playing Japanese music is trendy again, after years of being way behind western music in the cool stakes. Somewhat unusually Hideaki Matsumoto is a male koto player in what is mostly a female dominated instrument. He grew up playing piano, not turning to koto until he was at university and on this album Matsumoto plays his own original compositions with a piano accompaniment. He also does a solo rendition of the famous tune 'Kojo No Tsuki'. Eight tracks that do more or less what it says on the tin. Dramatic but with lighter moments.
